Meat quality of mixed sex lambs grazing pasture and supplemented with, roughage, oats or oats and sunflower meal

The meat quality of 8-9-month-old cryptorchid, wether and ewe lambs (Poll D orset x Border Leicester x Merino) was assessed. These lambs were grazed ov er summer and autumn from weaning (November) on lucerne (Medicago sativa) o r ryegrass/clover (Lolium rigidum/trifolium subterranean) pasture at two lo cations (A or B). After 72 days lambs grazed on lucerne were supplemented w ith either ad lib clover hay or clover silage. Those grazed on the ryegrass /clover pasture were supplemented from weaning with either oat grain (400-6 00 g/h day and clover hay ad lib) or oat grain (200-400 g/h day) plus sunfl ower seed meal (200 g/h day) and clover hay ad lib. Lambs were slaughtered in April and May after they reached 48 kg liveweight. Lambs supplemented so lely with roughage produced muscle (m. longissimus thoracis et lumborum; LT L) with a higher (P<0.05) pH, but there was no effect of nutrition or sex o n meat colour or tenderness. Slaughter day affected tenderness of the topsi de (m. semimembranosus). Assessment of aroma, flavour and acceptability was undertaken on the m. biceps femoris from wether and cryptorchid lambs usin g an experienced taste panel. There was no clear effect of sex or nutrition on the assessment of the sensory attributes. However, panellists considere d meat from cryptorchid lambs fed the oats/sunflower supplement and grazed at location B, to have a stronger aroma and flavour (P<0.05) and in some ca ses to be less acceptable than meat from other combinations of sex, diet an d location. The most acceptable meat came from lambs supplemented with oats , irrespective of sex or location. As such, these effects could not be attr ibuted solely to either the diet or sex, but suggest there are conditions w here meat from cryptorchids can be less acceptable. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scien ce Ltd. All rights reserved.