Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:40:16.544Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Lucerne-derived flavour in sheep meat as affected by season and duration of grazing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

R. J. Park
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Food Research, Meat Research Laboratory, Cannon Hill, Queensland, 4170, Australia
Anne Ford
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Food Research, Meat Research Laboratory, Cannon Hill, Queensland, 4170, Australia
D. J. Minson
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Tropical Agronomy, St Lucia, Queensland, 4067, Australia
R. I. Baxter
Affiliation:
CSIRO Division of Mathematical Statistics, North Ryde, New South Wales, 2113, Australia

Summary

Merino wether lambs and yearling sheep grazed irrigated lucerne or grass pastures in the period immediately before slaughter. Some of the sheep grazed continuously on the lucerne or grass for up to 6 months, while others grazed grass and then lucerne in the 4 weeks immediately before slaughter, over this same period. A laboratory taste panel compared the flavour of the meat from the grass and lucerne-fed sheep.

The intensity of the flavour characteristic of cooked meat from lucerne-fed lambs or sheep was found to increase in intensity with increasing length of time of grazing the legume. In addition, both 4-week and continuous-lucerne grazing treatments exhibited significant seasonal effects, in which the intensity of the lucerne-derived taint was found to vary throughout the year, with a maximum intensity appearing when lucerne was grazed in the cooler months.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Cramer, D. A., Barton, R. A., Shorland, F. B. & Czochanska, Z. (1967). A comparison of the effects of white clover (Trifolium repens) and of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) on fat composition and flavour of lamb. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 69, 367–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicol, A. M. & Jagusch, K. T. (1971). The effect of different types of pasture on the organoleptio qualities of lambs. Journal of Science in Food and Agriculture 22, 464–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, R. J., Corbett, J. L. & Furnival, E. P. (1972). Flavour differences in meat from lambs grazed on either lucerne (Medicago sativa) or phalaris (Phalaris tuberosa) pastures. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 78, 4752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, R. J., Spurway, R. A. & Wheeler, J. L. (1972). Flavour differences in meat from sheep grazed on pasture or winter forage crops. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 78, 53–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Park, R. J. & Minson, D. J. (1972). Flavour differences in meat from lambs grazed on tropical legumes. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 79, 473–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar