SPECIES AND SEX ASSOCIATIONS IN THE INSTRUMENTAL COLOUR OF M. TRICEPS BRACHII FROM FOUR EUROPEAN WILD UNGULATES

Abstract

Instrumental colour is an important quality attribute of venison. This study compared the colour of M. triceps brachii from 76 free-ranging roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), fallow deer (Dama dama), red deer (Cervus elaphus) and European mouflon (Ovis musimon) using a common sampling and measurement protocol. Following ageing, freezing and thawing, CIE L*, a* and b* were measured using a Konica Minolta CM-2600d spectrophotometer in specular component included (SCI) mode; chroma (C*) and hue angle (h°) were calculated. Welch–James factorial tests evaluated species, sex and their interaction, with Holm adjustment across 15 tests. Species effects were significant for b* (adjusted P = 0.005) and h° (adjusted P = 0.026), and a species × sex interaction was detected for L* (adjusted P = 0.008). Marginal sex effects and the species effect on C* did not reach significance after adjustment. Male roe deer had higher mean L* than females, with the reverse pattern in European mouflon. Interspecific total colour differences (ΔE*ab) ranged from 0.52 to 3.47 for pooled means and from 1.79 to 4.83 for sex-specific means; visual perceptibility was not established. Principal component and canonical discriminant analyses based on L*, a* and b* showed overlapping species profiles. Leave-one-animal-out cross-validation of the discriminant model yielded 55.3% overall accuracy and 44.3% balanced accuracy, indicating limited internal discrimination. These findings provide reference data for four European wild ungulates under the applied post-mortem and measurement conditions. Unequal sample sizes and small mouflon groups (n = 5 per sex) limit generalisation.