ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Food Science Technology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1620180
This article is part of the Research TopicImportance and Impacts of Genetics in Food ProductionView all articles
A Comparative Analysis of Carcass Traits, Meat Quality and Flavor Between Tibetan Sheep and Their Three-Way Crossbred Sheep
Provisionally accepted
- 1Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Hefei, China
- 2Qinghai Yangsen Agricultural and Livestock Ecological Co., Ltd, Gonghe, China
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Introduction: To improve meat yield and nutritional quality of Tibetan sheep in high-altitude regions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Australian White and Small-tailed Han rams were introduced to crossbred with Tibetan sheep (Oura-type, O) ewes. The aim of this study was to compare growth conformation, meat quality, and further identified related candidate genes between Tibetan sheep and their three-way crossbreds (25% Australian White × 25% Small-tailed Han × 50% Oura-type Tibetan, AHO). Methods: Fifteen 5.5-month-old male lambs (8 Tibetan and 7 AHO crossbred) were raised for 5.5 months. We compared body conformation, carcass traits, meat quality (pH, color, cooking loss), nutrient composition (amino acids, fatty acids, ribonucleotides) in longissimus dorsi（LD）muscle, and analyzed differentially expressed genes through transcriptomics.Results: Our findings indicated that AHO lambs exhibited significantly superior body conformation and carcass traits (P < 0.05), including live weight, body length, cannon circumference, carcass weight, and loin eye area. Their LD muscle also contained higher levels of PUFA, n-6 PUFA, and a greater PUFA/SFA ratio compared to O lambs (P < 0.05). Additionally, the content of glutamic acid in AHO group LD muscle was higher than O group (P < 0.05). The flavor compounds inosine monophosphate content also showed an increased trend in the AHO lambs’ LD muscle than O lambs (P = 0.072). Transcriptomic analysis identified candidate genes including CSRP3, ANKRD1, IFRD1, PPARGC1A, and AMPD3, which are differentially expressed and associated with muscle development and meat flavor. Conclusion: This research showed that AHO crossbred lambs exhibited better growth performance, carcass traits and meat nutritional quality than Tibetan lambs, and identified the potential candidate genes. These findings offer practical strategies for improving the quality of Tibetan sheep lamb products through crossbreeding optimization in high-altitude regions.
Keywords: Crossbred lamb, Tibetan sheep, Muscle Development, Meat flavor, Differentially expressed genes
Received: 29 Apr 2025; Accepted: 16 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Qiao, Yang, Tang, Zhang, Chen and Hui. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Sheng Chen, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Hefei, China
Wenqiao Hui, Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Hefei, China
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