New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research abstracts
An evaluation of the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat
quality of Sahiwal-Friesian cross bulls
R. W. PURCHAS
D. G. HARTLEY
Y. XUN
Department of Animal Science
Massey University
Palmerston North, New Zealand
D. A. GRANT
Farm Services
Massey University
Palmerston North, New Zealand
Abstract Sahiwal-Friesian cross (Sa-X) bulls (n = 39)
were run with Friesian (Fr) bulls (n = 40), Hereford-Friesian cross
(He-X) bulls (n = 39), and either Charolais-cross (year 1) or
Simmental-cross steers (n = 40) in an all-pasture system on hill country
in New Zealand from an age of about 4 months. The heavier half of each group
was slaughtered at an age of about 20 months and the remainder at about 28
months. The Sa-X bulls along with the two other bull groups grew faster than
the steers, but within the bull groups the Sa-X group grew more slowly over
some periods. Differences in dressing-out percentage between the groups were
small, but slightly higher for the Sa-X group relative to the Fr bulls. All
bull groups were less fat than the steers, and the Sa-X bulls had more kidney
and pelvic fat than the Fr bulls. Beef from the M. longissimus thoracis
of Sa-X bulls was tougher (higher shear force values) than that from the other
two bull groups, but not significantly different from beef of the steers. These
differences in shear force were associated with differences in ultimate pH,
with mean values for the steers being lower than the Sa-X bulls, which were
lower than for the other two bull groups. After adjustment for pH differences,
Warner-Bratzler peak force values remained higher for the Sa-X group, but there
were no differences between the other three groups. Shear force values for the
28-month age group were higher than for the 20-month group both before and
after adjustment for pH differences. These patterns were similar for meat aged
for either 1 or 20 days. It is concluded that that Sa-X bulls will grow
slightly more slowly than Fr or He-X bulls on hill country, and that beef from
such bulls is more likely to be tough.
Keywords bull beef; Sahiwal; tenderness; meat colour;
ultimate pH; cattle breeds; myofibrillar fragmentation index
New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research, 1997, Vol. 40: 497-506
0028-8233/97/4004-0497 $7.00/0 (c) The Royal Society of New Zealand
1997
PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (805K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)
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