Introduction Meat is a valuable part of human nutrition and a key factor in a balanced diet owing to its components. It provides high quality protein and fat also essential micronutrients that include iron, zinc, B vitamins, selenium, and phosphorus for optimal human health. Lamb is one of the red meat production sources, along with beef and pork. Lamb meat production is profitable if high quality pastures and suitable genotypes are available. The saleable yield type from sheep varies according to the geographic structure of country and sociocultural level of people. Nowadays lamb meat production has largely switched from extensive to intensive production systems across the world (1). In Turkey, sheep breeding is conducted with native breeds on pastures and grasslands. According to the 2017 data from FAO, nearly 24.2% of Turkish red meat production comes from sheep. For increasing the share of lamb meat production, more lambs could be slaughtered, or the carcass weight or the slaughter weight per lamb might be increased through fattening (2). Rapid growth of the human population, economic development, and the awareness of consumers of the dietary requirements for a healthy life have increased the demand for red meat. An adult person needs to consume 70-80 g of protein per day and half of the protein should come from animals because of the essential amino acids present. As their level of education increases, consumers are not only concerned with the quantity of meat but also with its quality and therefore consider the quality characteristics before buying (3,4). Meat pH and color are the most important traits for determining meat quality. pH decline of about 1 unit should occur in the first 24 h after slaughter for high-quality meats. Consumers understand the freshness of meat from its color, which affects their purchasing decisions. Water holding capacity (WHC) and cooking loss (CL) are related to meat flavor. WHC can be detected using several methods such as CL, drip loss, and expressed juice (EJ). Tenderness is an important indicator of the palatability of meat. Fatty acid profile of the meat influence nutritive value and plays an important role about definition of meat quality.

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