Southern Spain lamb types discrimination by using visible spectroscopy and basic physicochemical traits

The potential for using visible spectroscopy (400–700 nm) to classify six types (breed × production system) of lamb meat was investigated. Seven wavelengths namely 400, 410, 420, 450, 510, 610 and 670 nm were retained for the discriminant analysis. The basic meat physicochemical traits of Longissimus dorsi were also studied and a model including that information together with the spectra was developed to compare both accuracies. Then, Myoglobin content, water holding capacity, pH, a∗, 670 and 610 nm wavelengths, protein percentage, L∗, ash content, 450 and 420 nm wavelengths and moisture percentage were selected as variables for the development of the discriminant function. The data analysis showed that it was possible to discriminate the lamb types with accuracy around 83% using visible spectroscopy. However these results improved to 95% when using the reflectance together with basic physicochemical traits (12% better than using only the spectra).