Diet and pre-slaughter management have been well documented as influencing the taste and tenderness of lamb, but research is under way to look also at the effect of genetics.
Rissington Breedline New Zealand manager Alastair Nelson told a recent Gore field day that yield, growth and carcass weight were highly heritable.
However, pork producers have found that placing too great an emphasis on pursuing that path affected meat quality.
Mr Nelson said while there was no evidence suggesting taste had declined, research was needed to ensure eating quality was not being compromised by pursuing other traits.
A large-scale ram-progeny test culminating in taste tests has started, as part of an extended research programme which has also looked at the effect of sires on meat colour, and which has found some variability.
"They all ate the same forage, with really the only difference being the sire," Mr Nelson said.
The latest research was looking at differences in meat quality, taste and lamb performance, comparing animals finished on a Hunter-Titan forage crop and those fed only pasture.
Initial findings indicated lambs fed the forage crops produced more meat, but with little difference in the carcass weight.
The meat has been sent for taste testing, but no results were available yet, Mr Nelson said.
Next year, research would follow a progeny test and compare male and female lambs and their performance on specialist forage crops versus pasture, and would include information on forage genomics.
Feeding lambs high-energy crops could mean they were laying down fat, something else the researchers wanted to check, Mr Nelson said.