BRIEF COMMUNICATION: Effect of fodder beet or ryegrass dietary regimes during pregnancy on lamb carcass weight and meat metabolites

Meat metabolites are important for understanding meat quality such as flavour and nutritional value but also for providing insights into on-farm effects on muscle metabolism. This study determined the effects of ewes managed under contrasting dietary management systems (fodder beet (FB) and perennial ryegrass (RG)) during pregnancy on lamb carcass weight and meat metabolites after slaughter. Lambs were slaughtered at ~160 days, carcass weight was recorded, and sub-samples of the M. Longissimus thoracis were collected for evaluation of meat metabolite concentrations using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. Lambs born to FB ewes had lower carcass weights than those from RG ewes (p