While Lambassador Sam Kekovich is again out fighting ‘un-Australianism’ in the public arena, the sheep industry’s top researchers are quietly doing their bit to ensure lamb remains the country’s national dish on Australia Day for years to come.
By understanding what consumers really want in terms of lamb eating quality, and then using genetic tools to deliver on these taste requirements, the sheep industry will be able to guarantee continued improvement in consumer satisfaction for the foreseeable future.
The research, co-ordinated by Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC) in conjunction with Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and other partner organisations, has established a clear understanding of the physical and chemical attributes of lamb that underpin consumer satisfaction.
And in a major breakthrough, researchers can now align this knowledge with new genetic markers so that producers will be able to manage their flocks for eating quality, while also increasing the lean meat yield and productivity of their sheep.
“This is great news for all Australians who love eating lamb on Australia Day because it means they will continue to enjoy the great flavour and tenderness of our national dish for years to come,” Sheep CRC Meat Program Leader Dave Pethick said.
“There is a common view in industry and among some scientific circles that lamb is potentially always tender, juicy and flavoursome given its young age.
“However, the Sheep CRC team via its world-leading Information Nucleus Flocks, has found that even when employing best practice meat processing techniques, there is a wide variation in lamb eating quality and it is now clear that this variation has a significant genetic component.
“A common problem for all livestock breeding programs is that genetic selection for increased growth and muscling invariably leads to tougher and less flavoursome meat.
“We are therefore delighted to have made the breakthrough in lamb eating quality research in time to ensure that we can simultaneously improve eating quality and productivity.”
Sheep CRC Chief Executive Officer James Rowe said the science behind the measurement of eating quality attributes was difficult and expensive.
“However, the recent progress made in genomic technologies will enable more accurate selection of young rams with the genes to ensure both eating quality and increased productivity,” Professor Rowe said.
Prof. Rowe said the findings were an important component of the broader genomics research program being conducted by the Sheep CRC and MLA, which will provide sheep breeders with the ability to use DNA testing early in an animal’s life to identify a wide range of traits – from meat quality through to wool length.
“This will deliver producers with faster improvements in their flocks and a better balance in their ram selection and breeding programs,” he said.
Operating as part of the Federal Department of Innovation Industry Science and Research’s CRC program, the Sheep CRC is a collaboration of industry, government and the commercial sector.
It is working to increase productivity and profitability of the industry through new technologies for adoption by both the meat and wool supply chains.
A recent finding has come from CRC research, led by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries senior research scientist Dr Matt McDonagh, who investigated the calpain/calpistatin genes, which control natural tenderisation of meat as it ages in lamb, as well as other livestock species.
The research identified the natural variation in this gene group in 35 sires from its Information Nucleus flock, representing Merino, Border Leicester and Terminal sires.
“Many gene variants were discovered and three strongly influenced tenderness (measured mechanically by a shear force test) when assessed in the Information Nucleus progeny,” Dr McDonagh said.
“These three gene variants exist in a tender and tough format and when summed together explain about 0.6kg of shear force tenderness. Moreover the shear force scores correlate with the true consumer eating quality scores.
“Based on the distribution of these gene variants across the 35 sires tested there is good potential to improve meat tenderness within the Australian lamb industry,” he said.
However, the full genetic variation in eating quality is more than the tenderness gene markers – it is also strongly related to intramuscular fat and lean meat yield, for which the Sheep CRC has already identified new research breeding values.
Together these and other new gene markers will eventually form part of the genomic assisted Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) for eating quality under development by the Sheep CRC and Sheep Genetics.
These ASBVs will assist producers in predicting the performance of rams and ewes in influencing the eating quality and lean meat yield of their progeny.
The breeding values will then be used to develop a new cuts based Meat Standards Australia system for lamb.
* More information on genomic research in the sheep industry is available at the Sheep CRC’s new website at www.sheepcrc.org.au
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