Carcass and meat quality of Talaverana breed sucking lambs in relation to gender and slaughter weight

Forty-five Talaverana breed sucking lambs of both sexes were slaughtered at 10 and 12 kg live weight in order to study the effect of gender and slaugh ter weight on carcass, meat and fat traits. Carcass dressing proportions an d fatness (by various measures) were higher in females and heavier lambs, w hich also showed better conformation. Lightness (L*) of the carcass fat was higher in males and heavier lambs. Females and heavier lambs also displaye d a greater proportion of fat on dissection, primarily due to a higher perc entage of subcutaneous fat tissue. Water-holding capacity was greater in ma les and in lower-weight lambs. Males presented higher total collagen and lo wer soluble collagen values than females. In general, a high percentage of shout-chain (C12:0 and C14:0) fatty acids, as well as of palmitic acid (C16 :0), was observed in the intramuscular fat of the longissimus dorsi muscle, corresponding with an exclusively milk diet.