Effect of slaughter weight and aging time on the quality of meat from Awassi ram lambs

Thirty Awassi ram lambs were used to investigate the effects of live weight at slaughter (SW) and aging time (AT) on meat quality attributes of Mm. Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus, Biceps femoris and Longissimus. Lambs were slaughtered at 20, 30 or 40 kg live weight, and muscles of each lamb carcass...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Meat science 2009-07, Vol.82 (3), p.309-316
Main Authors: Abdullah, Abdullah Y., Qudsieh, Rasha I.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging time
Awassi
Awassi ram lambs
Biological and medical sciences
Food industries
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
lamb carcasses
lamb meat
lambs
Live weight
liveweight gain
meat aging
Meat and meat product industries
Meat quality
meat tenderness
rams
slaughter weight
texture
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Summary:Thirty Awassi ram lambs were used to investigate the effects of live weight at slaughter (SW) and aging time (AT) on meat quality attributes of Mm. Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus, Biceps femoris and Longissimus. Lambs were slaughtered at 20, 30 or 40 kg live weight, and muscles of each lamb carcass were aged for either 24 h or 7 days. Warner–Bratzler shear force values increased ( P < 0.01) with increasing live weight and decreased ( P < 0.01) by increasing AT in both M. Semimembranosus and Biceps femoris. Lightness ( L*) of the four muscles decreased ( P < 0.001) with increasing weight but was not affected by AT. Aging time increased ( P < 0.05) redness ( a*) in Mm . Semitendinosus and Longissimus. Cooking loss was reduced ( P < 0.001) by increased AT in M. Longissimus and by increasing ( P < 0.001) live weight in M. Semitendinosus. Aging time had no effect on expressed juice of all muscles but it was improved ( P < 0.001) with increasing live weight in M. Semimembranosus. pH values were significantly influenced for Mm . Semimembranosus and Biceps femoris and values were higher for lighter weight and decreased with increasing weight. Aging time did not influenced pH. In conclusion, meat quality for lambs slaughtered up to 30 kg was better than for lambs slaughtered at 40 kg with quality being improved by increasing aging time.
ISSN:0309-1740
1873-4138
DOI:10.1016/j.meatsci.2009.01.027