The effect of genotype on lamb carcass characteristics

The most important consideration in quality lamb production is the breed genotype used. Much work has examined a selection of terminal sire breeds, but less emphasis has been placed on assessing the influence of the female genotype on carcass quality. The benefits of the Texel breed in terms of higher carcass lean content has been highlighted (More O’Ferrall and Timon, 1977; Kempster et al 1987), but it has been suggested that Texel lambs are penalised under current MLC grading guidelines. Leymaster and Jenkins (1993) reinforced this suggestion by indicating that Texel sired lambs deposited proportionally more subcutaneous and less intermuscular fat than Suffolk sired lambs. This study was carried out to compare the Dutch Texel (DT) and Suffolk (S) breeds as terminal sires and crossed with Greyface (GF) and Suffolk Cheviot (SC) dams. The effect of the proportion of DT blood in lambs on carcass quality was also examined. For this purpose GF, DT x GF and pure DT lambs were compared.