The sustainability of the European sheep farming sector can be ensured through the high and consistent quality of products, although the concept of meat quality, being multifaceted, is challenging to keep up by farmers and producers. The objectives of this study were (i) to evaluate quality attributes (CIE L*, a*, b*, lipid oxidation, cooking loss and Warner-Bratzler texture test) of lamb meat during cold storage originating from eight European breeds raised under their normal production systems (n = 292 lambs); and (ii) to elucidate the influence of storage and intrinsic properties (cold carcass weight [CCW], ultimate pH [pH₂₄], water activity [a_w], and proximate composition) on the aforementioned quality attributes measured on the 3rd, 9th and 15th day post slaughter. All meat quality properties displayed a high variability due to the breed × production systems, although, as a whole, L*, a*, b*, TBARs and cooking loss increased during storage (P < 0.001), whereas the tenderisation process was of non-linear decay nature (P = 0.001). While production system – taken across breeds – was not found to affect meat cooking losses, it heavily influenced CCW, producing intensive systems heavier (P < 0.001) carcasses (21.4 kg) than those raised in semi-extensive (14.9 kg) and extensive systems (13.8 kg). On the 15th day of storage, TBARs from intensive systems was significantly (P < 0.001) higher than those of extensively raised lambs (0.839 mg MDA/kg vs. 0.299 mg MDA/kg, respectively). Although the extensive and semi-extensive systems initially produced less tender meat (P < 0.05) than intensive systems, on the 15th day of storage, meat from extensive (23.4 N/cm²) and semi-extensive systems (24.4 N/cm²) presented as good tenderness quality (P < 0.10) as that of the intensive systems (22.1 N/cm²). Within breed × production systems, higher CCW or intramuscular fat was associated to darker meat (P < 0.001 and P = 0.014), higher redness (P < 0.001 for both), greater lipid oxidation (P = 0.016 and P < 0.001), and lower slope (P = 0.014 and P = 0.004) and force (P = 0.027 and P = 0.001). The only intrinsic property that heavily affected most of the quality attributes was ash content, since meat of higher ash content presented higher luminosity (P = 0.008), and lower redness (P < 0.001), yellowness (P < 0.001), TBARS (P < 0.001), cooking loss (P = 0.002) and tenderness (P < 0.001). The elucidation of the impact of intrinsic properties on the lamb meat quality attributes during storage can help breeders and producers modify current flock management, feeding strategies and pre-slaughter and slaughter practices towards quality improvement or meeting particular consumers’ demands.

尽管肉质质量的概念是多方面的，但要由农民和生产者跟上，这是一个多重挑战，但可以通过产品的高品质和始终如一的质量来确保欧洲绵羊养殖业的可持续性。这项研究的目的是（i）评估来自八个欧洲品种的羔羊肉在冷藏期间的品质属性（CIE L *，a *，b *，脂质氧化，蒸煮损失和Warner-Bratzler质感测试）正常生产系统（n  = 292羔羊）；（ii）阐明储存和内在特性的影响（car体冷重[CCW]，最终pH [pH ₂₄ ]，水分活度[a _w]和附近的成分）。在屠宰后第3天，第9天和第15天测量上述质量属性。由于品种×生产系统，所有肉品质量均表现出较高的变异性，尽管总体上L *，a *，b *，TBAR和存储过程中的蒸煮损失增加了（P <  0.001），而嫩化过程却是非线性衰减特性（P =  0.001）。虽然未发现跨品种的生产系统会影响肉类烹饪损失，但它严重影响了CCW，生产的集约化系统重于（P <  0.001）cas体（21.4 kg），比半集约化（14.9 kg）和粗放系统的raised体重（13.8公斤）。在存储的第15天，来自密集型系统的TBAR显着（P < 0.001）比广泛饲养的羔羊高（分别为0.839 mg MDA / kg和0.299 mg MDA / kg）。尽管粗放和半铺放系统最初生产的鲜嫩肉（P <  0.05）比精放系统少，但在储存的第15天，粗放（23.4 N / cm ²）和半铺放系统（24.4 N / cm ²）的肉）表现 出与集约化系统（22.1 N / cm ²）一样的优良嫩度质量（P < 0.10 ）。在品种×生产系统中，较高的CCW或肌肉内脂肪与深色肉（P <  0.001和P =  0.014），较高的红肿度（ 两种均P < 0.001）和脂质氧化较高（P = 0.016和P <  0.001），较低的斜率（P =  0.014和P =  0.004）和作用力（P =  0.027和P =  0.001）。严重影响大多数质量属性的唯一内在属性是灰分，因为灰分较高的肉具有较高的发光度（P =  0.008），发红度（P <  0.001），黄度（P <  0.001），TBARS（P <  0.001），蒸煮损失（P =  0.002）和嫩度（P < 0.001）。阐明存储期间内在特性对羔羊肉品质属性的影响，可以帮助育种者和生产者修改当前的羊群管理，饲喂策略以及宰杀和屠宰前的做法，以提高质量或满足特定消费者的需求。