Table 2.

Meat quality parameters and chemical composition of longissimus dorsi muscle from male lambs born to Turkish indigenous sheep breeds.

Traits	A	M	KR	KV	IW	MAM
pH	5.62 $\pm$ 0.03${}^{\text{c}}$	5.71 $\pm$ 0.02${}^{\text{b}}$	5.69 $\pm$ 0.02${}^{\text{bc}}$	5.72 $\pm$ 0.02${}^{\text{ab}}$	5.79 $\pm$ 0.03${}^{\text{a}}$	5.61 $\pm$ 0.02${}^{\text{c}}$
Water-holding capacity	34.15 $\pm$ 0.67	35.23 $\pm$ 0.69	34.23 $\pm$ 0.61	33.02 $\pm$ 0.63	32.40 $\pm$ 0.67	34.03 $\pm$ 0.86
Drip loss (%)
Three days	8.73 $\pm$ 0.58${}^{\text{ab}}$	10.39 $\pm$ 0.72${}^{\text{a}}$	10.13 $\pm$ 0.62${}^{\text{ab}}$	9.72 $\pm$ 0.58${}^{\text{ab}}$	8.08 $\pm$ 0.62${}^{\text{b}}$	9.34 $\pm$ 0.58${}^{\text{ab}}$
Seven days	10.95 $\pm$ 0.60${}^{\text{bc}}$	14.87 $\pm$ 1.02${}^{\text{a}}$	13.00 $\pm$ 0.62${}^{\text{ab}}$	12.23 $\pm$ 0.60${}^{\text{bc}}$	10.38 $\pm$ 0.66${}^{\text{c}}$	11.35 $\pm$ 0.69${}^{\text{bc}}$
Frozen–thawing loss (%)	13.31 $\pm$ 0.98	13.31 $\pm$ 1.12	11.64 $\pm$ 0.89	10.62 $\pm$ 0.89	13.80 $\pm$ 0.93	13.94 $\pm$ 0.93
Cooking loss (%)	28.48 $\pm$ 0.60${}^{\text{bc}}$	30.54 $\pm$ 0.63${}^{\text{a}}$	30.20 $\pm$ 0.60${}^{\text{ab}}$	28.48 $\pm$ 0.58${}^{\text{bc}}$	29.52 $\pm$ 0.67${}^{\text{abc}}$	27.73 $\pm$ 0.55${}^{\text{c}}$
Color
$L^{\ast }$	46.59 $\pm$ 0.53${}^{\text{a}}$	44.48 $\pm$ 0.47${}^{\text{b}}$	42.98 $\pm$ 0.43${}^{\text{c}}$	44.08 $\pm$ 0.47${}^{\text{b}}$	41.83 $\pm$ 0.47${}^{\text{c}}$	42.28 $\pm$ 0.53${}^{\text{c}}$
$a^{\ast }$	18.09 $\pm$ 0.41${}^{\text{c}}$	19.02 $\pm$ 0.36${}^{\text{bc}}$	20.18 $\pm$ 0.32${}^{\text{a}}$	19.53 $\pm$ 0.36${}^{\text{ab}}$	17.83 $\pm$ 0.36${}^{\text{c}}$	19.60 $\pm$ 0.41${}^{\text{ab}}$
$b^{\ast }$	5.48 $\pm$ 0.36${}^{\text{bc}}$	6.42 $\pm$ 0.32${}^{\text{ab}}$	6.53 $\pm$ 0.29${}^{\text{a}}$	6.29 $\pm$ 0.32${}^{\text{ab}}$	5.26 $\pm$ 0.32${}^{\text{c}}$	5.17 $\pm$ 0.36${}^{\text{c}}$
Dry matter (%)	23.09 $\pm$ 0.26${}^{\text{b}}$	23.41 $\pm$ 0.25${}^{\text{b}}$	24.75 $\pm$ 0.25${}^{\text{a}}$	24.77 $\pm$ 0.25${}^{\text{a}}$	23.31 $\pm$ 0.36${}^{\text{b}}$	24.32 $\pm$ 0.31${}^{\text{a}}$
Ash	1.07 $\pm$ 0.01${}^{\text{b}}$	1.07 $\pm$ 0.01${}^{\text{b}}$	1.06 $\pm$ 0.01${}^{\text{b}}$	1.08 $\pm$ 0.01${}^{\text{b}}$	1.11 $\pm$ 0.01${}^{\text{a}}$	1.08 $\pm$ 0.01${}^{\text{b}}$
Protein	19.72 $\pm$ 0.26${}^{\text{abc}}$	19.71 $\pm$ 0.26${}^{\text{abc}}$	18.98 $\pm$ 0.31${}^{\text{c}}$	19.38 $\pm$ 0.25${}^{\text{bc}}$	20.49 $\pm$ 0.44${}^{\text{a}}$	20.31 $\pm$ 0.31${}^{\text{ab}}$
Intramuscular fat	1.62 $\pm$ 0.14${}^{\text{b}}$	1.98 $\pm$ 0.14${}^{\text{b}}$	3.72 $\pm$ 0.16${}^{\text{a}}$	3.62 $\pm$ 0.13${}^{\text{a}}$	2.04 $\pm$ 0.23${}^{\text{b}}$	2.19 $\pm$ 0.16${}^{\text{b}}$

${}^{\mathrm{a},\mathrm{b},\mathrm{c}}$: The differences indicated by different letters on the same line are significant. $L^{\ast }$: lightness; $a^{\ast }$: redness; $b^{\ast }$: yellowness. A: Akkaraman; M: Morkaraman; IW: Awassi; KR: Karayaka; KV: Kıvırcık; MAM: Middle Anatolian Merino.