The correlation of intramuscular fat content between muscles of the lamb carcass and the use of computed tomography to predict intramuscular fat percentage in lambs. (10th April 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Anderson, F.; Pethick, D. W.; Gardner, G. E.
• Is Part Of: Animal. Volume 9:Number 7(2015:Jul.)
• Page Start: 1239
• Page End: 1249
• Publication Date: 2015-04-10
• Subjects: Animal breeding -- Periodicals; Animal genetics -- Periodicals; Animal nutrition -- Periodicals; Animal physiology -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; 636.005
• DOI: 10.1017/S175173111500049X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-7311

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Intramuscular fat (IMF) % contributes positively to the juiciness and flavour of lamb and is therefore a useful indicator of eating quality. A rapid, non-destructive method of IMF determination like computed tomography (CT) would enable pre-sorting of carcasses based on IMF% and potential eating quality. Given the loin muscle (<italic>longissimus lumborum</italic>) is easy to sample, a single measurement at this site would be useful, providing is correlates well to other muscles. To determine the ability of CT to predict IMF%, this study used 400 animals and examined 5 muscles from three sections of the carcass: from the fore-section the <italic>m. supraspinatus and m. infraspinatus</italic>, from the saddle-section the <italic>m. longissimus lumborum</italic> and from the hind-section the <italic>m. semimembranosus</italic> and <italic>m. semitendinosus</italic>. The average CT pixel density of muscle was negatively associated with IMF% and can be used to predict IMF% although precision in this study was poor. The ability of CT to predict IMF% was greatest in the <italic>m. longissimus lumborum</italic> (slope −0.07) and smallest in the <italic>m. infraspinatus</italic> (slope −0.02). The correlation coefficients of IMF% between the five muscles were variable, with the highest correlation coefficients evident between muscles of the fore section (0.67 between the <italic>m. supraspinatus</italic> and the <italic>m. infraspinatus</italic>) and the weakest correlations were between the muscle of the fore and hind section. The correlation between the <italic>m. longissimus lumborum</italic> to the other muscles was fairly consistent with values ranging between 0.34 and 0.40 (partial correlation coefficient). The correlation between the proportion of carcass fat and the IMF% of the five muscles varied and was greatest in the <italic>m. longissimus lumborum</italic> (0.41).</p> </abstract>