The estimation of the composition of lamb carcasses by use of an image analyser, "Classimat", on multiple cross-sections

One side of each of 20 lamb carcasses was dissected into muscle, bone and fat. The other side of each lamb was cross-sectioned at 11 sites. Photographs of cross-sections were scanned with an image analyser to measure the amount of muscle, bone and fat at each site. Estimations of the composition of the carcass were compared with the dissection yield. With the results of all 11 scans available in stepwise multiple regressions, 86, 73 and 98% of the variation in the weight and 99, 37 and 91% of the variation in the percentage of muscle, bone and fat resp. were explained. When the results of only 5 selected scans were analysed, the corresponding figures were 70, 73 and 86% for the weight and 89, 37 and 91% for the percentage of muscle, bone and fat resp.