Genetic selection for taste seems to outweigh other onfarm factors such as breed, lamb gender or fat cover in the eating quality of lamb, says Grant Howie, general manager sales, Silver Fern Farms.

SFF says this in a report on research into lamb eating quality under the FarmIQ Primary Growth Partnership Programme. Based on at least 3200 consumer taste tests in New Zealand and the US in 2016, the results confirm earlier research that consumers view NZ lamb as a consistently high-quality eating product.

Howie says they had absolutely confirmed that consumers see lamb as a good quality product, so it gives us confidence that the product the farmers are producing is meeting consumer taste expectations.

Interestingly for farmers, the research did not find a significant or consistent effect on lamb eating quality from breed, lamb gender, pasture, growth rates, fat cover and marbling, butt conformation or locality, he says.

Several of these factors had minor effects, but all were outweighed by the right cut and correct ageing, he says.

This wasnt just a one-off study; there were several studies over that time. We were getting more and more information the more we tested, Howie told Rural News.

I think early on we were expecting, for example, a ram lamb effect; there is a lot of talk in the industry about that. But the more we tested it and the more thoroughly we looked at those sorts of things we couldnt see any ram lamb effect and it wasnt just a one-off study; we did several studies on that.

There is more variation in the genetics within a breed than there is one breed versus another.

AgResearch and FarmIQ have invested a lot of money in the last few years developing a SNP chip which helps identify different gene markers that can identify the markers for tenderness, low pH and marbling in lamb.

The same technology has been used in the beef industry.

Ram breeders can now use that technology to improve the genetic make-up of lambs or of rams and passed on to lambs obviously for tenderness, pH and marbling.

All the studies have confirmed that farmers are on track, and they can ensure we remain on track if the breeders use the genetic technology of the SNP chip and keep our lamb eating as good as it is now.

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Genetics key to lamb taste - Rural News Group