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Quality of three muscles from suckler bulls finished on concentrates and slaughtered at 16 months of age or slaughtered at 19 months of age from two production systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2020

L. Moran ,
S. S. Wilson ,
M. G. O’Sullivan ,
M. McGee ,
E. G. O’Riordan ,
F. J. Monahan ,
J. P. Kerry  and
A. P. Moloney
L. Moran
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Food Research Centre, Ashtown, Dublin 15, Ireland
S. S. Wilson
Affiliation:
School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Ireland
M. G. O’Sullivan
Affiliation:
School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Ireland
M. McGee
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland
E. G. O’Riordan
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland
F. J. Monahan
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
J. P. Kerry
Affiliation:
School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Ireland
A. P. Moloney*
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland
*
†E-mail: aidan.moloney@teagasc.ie
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Abstract

There is a requirement in some beef markets to slaughter bulls at under 16 months of age. This requires high levels of concentrate feeding. Increasing the slaughter age of bulls to 19 months facilitates the inclusion of a grazing period, thereby decreasing the cost of production. Recent data indicate few quality differences in longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle from conventionally reared 16-month bulls and 19-month-old bulls that had a grazing period prior to finishing on concentrates. The aim of the present study was to expand this observation to additional commercially important muscles/cuts. The production systems selected were concentrates offered ad libitum and slaughter at under 16 months of age (16-C) or at 19 months of age (19-CC) to examine the effect of age per se, and the cheaper alternative for 19-month bulls described above (19-GC). The results indicate that muscles from 19-CC were more red, had more intramuscular fat and higher cook loss than those from 16-C. No differences in muscle objective texture or sensory texture and acceptability were found between treatments. The expected differences in composition and quality between the muscles were generally consistent across the production systems examined. Therefore, for the type of animal and range of ages investigated, the effect of the production system on LT quality was generally representative of the effect on the other muscles analysed. In addition, the data do not support the under 16- month age restriction, based on meat acceptability, in commercial suckler bull production.

Keywords

beefpalatabilitygluteus mediussemitendinosuslongissimus thoracis
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 14 , Issue 10 , October 2020 , pp. 2203 - 2211
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Animal Consortium

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Footnotes

a

Present address: Lactiker Research Group, Department of Pharmacy and Food Science, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

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