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

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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.