Vitamin E is an important nutrient for lambs and low levels in tissues as a result of either low intake, poor absorption or excessive utilisation results in myopathy (pale muscle). The causes of deficiency are incompletely understood, especially as it can occur when lambs are consuming good quality grass containing high levels of vitamin E. We now report an occurrence of low tissue levels of vitamin E in lambs of two breeds raised on complete dry pelleted rations and its effect on meat quality and fatty acid composition.

96 male lambs, half Suffolk x Lleyn and half Scottish Blackface, with average live weights of 24 kg and 18kg respectively were individually penned and randomly allocated to one of 6 isoenergetic isonitrogenous diets based on dried grass, molassed sugar beet pulp, soya bean meal and molasses and containing two levels of vitamin E, 100 (low) and 500 (high) g/kg DM.