ABSTRACT
We analysed the effect of enriched housing on the sensory meat quality and fatty acid composition of longissimus muscle in 60 entire Rasa Aragonesa lambs, housed indoors for 5 weeks in six pens (10 lambs/pen, 0.95 m(2)/lamb, initial weight 17.13±0.18 kg and carcass mean 12.23±0.23 kg); three control pens (barren) and three enriched pens (straw, platform with ramps and a small ramp). The final weight, carcass weight, fatness scores and cooking losses of meat from enriched lambs (EG) were higher and pH 24 was lower (P ≤ 0.05). The EG lambs had more C18:0 and total SFA (P ≤ 0.05). Lamb odour and grass odour were more intense in EG (P ≤ 0.05). Overall liking was higher for EG (P ≤ 0.05) and associated with tenderness (P ≤ 0.0001). The results suggest that environmental enrichment can have effects on fatty acid composition and sensory meat quality.
