Meat quality of different beef cattle breeds fed high energy forage

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in meat quality characteristics of different beef cattle breeds fed high energy forage. The study included 200 days old uncastrated beef cattle of the following breeds: Limousin, Charolais, Angus, Hereford and Simmental. Feeding and housing conditions for bulls were the same. Animals were given a certain amount of concentrated forage plus silage ad libitum. The rest of the feed consisted of small amounts of grass and corn silage. When the bulls were 500 days old, 5 bulls from each group, best meeting the average indicators, were selected for control slaughter. No substantial influence of breed on the amount of dry food was determined. The meat of Aubrac breed was determined to have the highest meat protein sufficiency rate, while the lowest rate was found in the meat of Hereford breed. The difference reached up to 1.79% (P < 0.05). Differences between breeds for meat tenderness were observed as well. The toughest meat was from the Aubrac breed cattle, while the tenderest was from the Charolais breed meat. The difference reached up to 0.9 kg cm-2 (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences between breeds for water content of meat, water holding capacity and cook loss. Intramuscular fat level varied according to the breed. The meat of Hereford breed was determined to have the highest level of intramuscular fat, while the lowest level was found in the Aubrac breed meat. The difference was 1.48% (P < 0.05). Differences between breeds for physical meat quality were observed as well. The meat of French breeds (Charolais and Limousine) was lighter and had higher water holding capacity – 0.78–0.82% (P > 0.05) as compared to the meat of English breeds (Hereford and Angus).