Solutions for sustainable lamb production and breeding for more taste and less waste to increase food security in the UK and beyond

This project will measure new lamb carcass and meat quality (MQ) traits simultaneously, using non-inva-sive state-of-the-art technologies in live animals and in meat cuts, including computed tomography (CT) and Near Infrared spectroscopy, and use the data in a breeding programme, alongside carcass traits measured routinely in the abattoir, but not currently accessible on an individual lamb basis. Relation-ships between new CT- / NIR- and MQ traits will be investigated. A routine way to measure these traits efficiently on a large number of crossbred lambs will be developed, enabling contemporaneous selec-tion for higher taste/healthier meat/ lower waste using accurate crossbred estimated breeding values. The optimal way to incorporate these new traits into sheep breeding programmes will be investigated. British lamb has a 12-16% market share of red meat consumption. Improving eating quality and production efficiency of home-grown lamb will have a significant impact on the future of the industry.