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Genetic variation and relationship of ultrasonic measures and carcass composition in Suffolk cross lambs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

V.C. Flamarique ,
R.M. Lewis  and
G. Simm
V.C. Flamarique
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, United Kingdom
R.M. Lewis
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, United Kingdom
G. Simm
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG, United Kingdom
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Extract

Excess fat in lamb is regarded as an important reason for less lamb meat being purchased by consumers. This has encouraged the development and use (particularly in Terminal Sire breeds) of selection indices that can identify animals that will sire leaner progeny. These indices usually include live weight and in vivo predictors of body composition, such as an ultrasonic measurement of muscle and fat depth, as selection criteria (Simm and Dingwall, 1989). But the usefulness of such in vivo measurements as predictors of carcass composition depends on the correlation between, and the variation in, live and carcass measures. The objectives of this study were to determine the strength of the relationship between ultrasound and dissection measures of carcass composition, and the degree of genetic variation in these measures, in crossbred progeny of Suffolk rams.

Type
Animal Breeding
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1996 , March 1996 , pp. 111
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1996

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References

Cameron, N. D. and Braken, J.. 1992. Selection for carcass lean content in a terminal sire breed of sheep. Animal Production 54:367–377.Google Scholar
Genstat 5 Committee. 1993. Genstat 5 Release 3 reference manual. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Simm, G. and Dingwall, W.S.. 1989. Selection indices for lean meat production in sheep. Livestock Production Science 21:223–233.10.1016/0301-6226(89)90052-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar