Genetic aspects of carcass composition and meat quality in sheep

This book explores genetic aspects of carcass and sheep meat quality traits and considers future options to improve meat quality.The focus is to breed for improved meat quality,as consumers require leaner meat,less fat and consistent quality.Therefore,traits determining product quality are carcass composition and meat quality. Meat quality traits pose particular problems for improvement,as direct measurements require the destruction of the animal.Muscle quality is considered to be difficult to measure in the live animal.Hence,this book investigated the use of in vivo composition traits to predict meat quality. Additionally,it investigated opportunities for genetically improving meat and carcass quality by using in vivo predictor traits and quantitative trait loci.There is no published information available on genetic correlations between carcass traits, assessed by Computer Tomography,and meat quality traits in any species.This study detected significant genomic approaches for traits related to carcass and meat quality.This book provided considerable novel information of the genetic control of sheep meat quality traits.