Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T10:30:59.824Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Beef palatability and its relationship with protein degradation and muscle fibre type profile in longissimus thoracis in Alentejana breed from divergent growth pathways

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2016

P. Costa*
Affiliation:
CIISA – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
J. A. Simões
Affiliation:
L-INIAV Santarém, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos, Quinta da Fonte Boa, 2005-048 Vale de Santarém, Portugal
S. P. Alves
Affiliation:
CIISA – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
J. P. C. Lemos
Affiliation:
CIISA – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
C. M. Alfaia
Affiliation:
CIISA – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
P. A. Lopes
Affiliation:
CIISA – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
J. A. M. Prates
Affiliation:
CIISA – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal
J. F. Hocquette
Affiliation:
INRA, UR 1213, Unité de Recherches sur les Herbivores (URH), Theix, F-63122 Saint-Genés Champanelle, France Clermont Université, VetAgro Sup, UMR1213, Herbivores, BP 10448, F-63000 Clermont-Ferrand, France
C. R. Calkins
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68583-0908, USA
V. Vleck
Affiliation:
CIPER – Faculdade de Mótricidade Humana, Universidade de Lisboa, Estrada da costa, Cruz Quebrada-Dafundo, 1499-002 Lisboa, Portugal
R. J. B. Bessa
Affiliation:
CIISA – Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal L-INIAV Santarém, Instituto Nacional dos Recursos Biológicos, Quinta da Fonte Boa, 2005-048 Vale de Santarém, Portugal
*
E-mail: paulocosta@fmv.utl.pt
Get access

Abstract

The traditional beef production in the South of Portugal is based on a discontinuous growth (DG) system that requires lower external inputs and could enhance meat quality and financial returns to cattle producers. This system allows farmers to take advantage of the bull’s compensatory growth when the pasture is abundant and finishes the cattle on concentrates for 2 to 3 months before slaughter. The fast gain rate before slaughter could be a valuable strategy to improve tenderness and to reduce its inconsistency in beef production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of production system (continuous growth (CG) v. DG) on longissimus thoracis muscle properties from Alentejana bulls. In total, 40 Alentejana male calves were allocated to two distinct feeding regimes: in the CG system, animals were fed concentrate plus hay and slaughtered at 18 months of age, whereas in the DG system, animals were fed on hay until 15 months of age and then fed the same diet provided to the CG group until 24 months of age. The DG system had a positive impact on meat tenderness (P<0.001) and global acceptability (P<0.001). DG bulls had greater fibre cross-sectional area (CSA) of glycolytic fibres (P<0.05) and relative area of the muscle (RA) occupied by type IIX fibres (P<0.01) and greater levels of α-actinin (P<0.05) and myosin light chain 2 (P<0.01) proteins, and pH24h (P<0.01) than CG bulls. The latter had greater CSA of type I (P<0.05) and type IIA (P<0.01) and greater RA of type IIA (P<0.05) and oxidative (P<0.05) than CG bulls. The compensatory growth production system had a positive impact on meat tenderness and global acceptability, overcoming the negative effects of slaughter of the bulls at a later age. The DG beef system could be a worthwhile strategy of beef production in Mediterranean areas due to the low-quality pasture in summer.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allingham, PG, Harperand, GS and Hunter, RA 1998. Effect of growth path on the tenderness of the semitendinosus muscle of Brahman-cross steers. Meat Science 48, 6573.Google Scholar
American Meat Science Association 2015. Research guidelines for cookery, sensory evaluation, and instrumental tenderness measurements of meat. AMSA research guidelines for cookery and evaluation, version 1.0. AMSA, Champaign, IL, USA.Google Scholar
Association of Official Analytical Chemists 2000. Official methods of analysis. AOAC, Arlington, VA, USA.Google Scholar
Brooke, MH and Kaiser, KK 1970. Muscle fiber types: how many and what kind? Archives of Neurology 23, 369379.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calkins, CR, Dutson, TR, Smith, GC, Carpenterand, ZL and Davis, GW 1981. Relationship of fiber type composition to marbling and tenderness of bovine muscle. Journal of Food Science 46, 708710.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calkins, CR and Hodgen, JM 2007. A fresh look at meat flavor. Meat Science 77, 6380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassar-Malek, I, Hocquette, JF, Jurie, C, Listrat, A, Jailler, R, Bauchart, D, Briand, Y and Picard, B 2004. Muscle-specific metabolic, histochemical and biochemical responses to a nutritionally induced discontinuous growth path. Animal Science 79, 4959.Google Scholar
Costa, P, Lemos, JP, Lopes, PA, Alfaia, CM, Costa, ASH, Bessa, RJB and Prates, JAM 2012. Effect of low- and high-forage diets on meat quality and fatty acid composition of Alentejana and Barrosã beef breeds. Animal 6, 11871197.Google Scholar
Costa, P, Simões, JA, Costa, ASH, Lemos, JPC, Navas, D, Hocquette, JF, Calkins, CR and Bessa, RJB. 2015. Repercussions of growth path on carcass characteristics, meat colour and shear force in Alentejana bulls. Animal 9, 14141422.Google Scholar
Cross, H, Moen, RR and Stanfield, MS 1978. Training and testing of judges for sensory analysis of meat quality. Food Technology 32, 4854.Google Scholar
Culler, RD, Smith, GC and Cross, HR 1978. Relationship of myofibril fragmentation index to certain chemical, physical and sensory characteristics of bovine longissimus muscle. Journal of Food Science 43, 11771180.Google Scholar
Destefanis, G, Barge, MT, Brugiapaglia, A and Tassone, S 2000. The use of principal component analysis (PCA) to characterize beef. Meat Science 56, 255259.Google Scholar
Fishell, VK, Aberle, ED, Judge, MD and Perry, TW 1985. Palatability and muscle properties of beef as influenced by preslaughter growth rate. Journal of Animal Science 61, 151157.Google Scholar
Fritz, JD and Greaser, ML 1991. Changes in titin and nebulin in postmortem bovine muscle revealed by gel electrophoresis, western blotting and immunofluorescence microscopy. Journal of Food Science 56, 607610.Google Scholar
Hansen, S, Therkildsen, M and Byrne, DV 2006. Effects of a compensatory growth strategy on sensory and physical properties of meat from young bulls. Meat Science 74, 628643.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hocquette, JF, Van Wezemael, L, Chriki, S, Legrand, I, Verbeke, W, Farmer, L, Scollan, ND, Polkinghorne, R, Rødbotten, R, Allen, P and Pethick, DW 2014. Modelling of beef sensory quality for a better prediction of palatability. Meat Science 97, 316322.Google Scholar
Huff Lonergan, E, Zhang, W and Lonergan, SM 2010. Biochemistry of postmortem muscle – lessons on mechanisms of meat tenderization. Meat Science 86, 184195.Google Scholar
Kamm, KE and Stull, JT 2011. Signaling to myosin regulatory light chain in sarcomeres. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 286, 99419947.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, SH, Joo, ST and Ryu, YC 2010. Skeletal muscle fiber type and myofibrillar proteins in relation to meat quality. Meat Science 86, 166170.Google Scholar
Lefaucheur, L 2010. A second look into fiber typing – relation to meat quality. Meat Science 84, 257270.Google Scholar
Maccatrozzo, L, Patruno, M, Toniolo, L, Reggiani, C and Mascarello, F 2004. Myosin heavy chain 2B isoform is expressed in specialized eye muscles but not in trunk and limb muscles of cattle. European Journal of Histochemistry 48, 357366.Google Scholar
Madeira, MS, Costa, P, Alfaia, CM, Lopes, PA, Bessa, RJB, Lopes, PA, Lemos, JCP and Prates, JAM 2013. The increased intramuscular fat promoted by dietary lysine restriction in lean but not in fatty pig genotypes improves pork sensory attributes. Journal of Animal Science 91, 31773187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maltin, CA, Sinclair, KD, Warriss, PD, Grant, CM, Porter, AD, Delday, MI and Warkup, CC 1998. The effects of age at slaughter, genotype and finishing system on the biochemical properties, muscle fiber type characteristics and eating quality of bull beef from suckled calves. Animal Science 66, 341348.Google Scholar
Meilgaard, MC, Civille, GV and Carr, BT 2006. Sensory evaluation techniques, 4th edition. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, USA.Google Scholar
Muir, PD, Smith, NB, Dobbie, PM, Smith, DR and Bown, MD 2001. Effects of growth pathway on beef quality in 18-month-old Angus and South Devon×Angus pasture-fed steers. Animal Science 72, 297308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicastro, FM and Maiorano, G 1994. Histological characteristics of chianina breed related to meat quality. Expression regulation and role of proteinases in muscle development and meat quality. Sciences des Aliments 14, 423430.Google Scholar
Oddy, VH, Harper, GS, Greenwood, PL and McDonagh, MB 2001. Nutritional and developmental effects on the intrinsic properties of muscles as they relate to the eating quality of beef. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 41, 921942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ouali, A and Talmant, A 1990. Calpains and calpastatin distribution in bovine, porcine and ovine skeletal muscles. Meat Science 28, 331348.Google Scholar
Oury, MP, Dumont, R, Jurie, C, Hocquette, JF and Picard, B 2010. Specific fiber composition and metabolism of the rectus abdominis muscle of bovine Charolais cattle. BMC Biochemistry 11, 112.Google Scholar
Ozawa, S, Mitsuhashi, T, Mitsumoto, M, Matsumoto, S, Itoh, N, Itagaki, K, Kohno, Y and Dohgo, T 2000. The characteristics of muscle fiber types of longissimus thoracis muscle and their influences on the quantity and quality of meat from Japanese Black steers. Meat Science 54, 6570.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Parrish, FC, Young, RB, Miner, BE and Andersen, LD 1973. Effect of postmortem conditions on certain chemical, morphological and organoleptic properties of bovine muscle. Journal of Food Science 38, 690695.Google Scholar
Picard, B and Cassar-Malek, I 2009. Evidence for expression of IIb myosin heavy chain isoform in some skeletal muscles of Blonde d’Aquitaine bulls. Meat Science 82, 3036.Google Scholar
Picard, B, Duris, MP and Jurie, C 1998. Classification of bovine muscle fibers by different histochemical techniques. The Histochemical Journal 30, 473477.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Seideman, SC and Crouse, JD 1986. The effects of sex condition, genotype and diet on bovine muscle fiber characteristics. Meat Science 17, 5572.Google Scholar
Sheehan, DC and Hrapchak, BB 1987. Theory and practice of histotechnology. Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, OH, USA.Google Scholar
Therkildsen, M 2005. Muscle protein degradation in bull calves with compensatory growth. Livestock Production Science 98, 205218.Google Scholar
Toniolo, L, Maccatrozzo, L, Patruno, M, Caliaro, F, Mascarello, F and Reggiani, C 2005. Expression of eight distinct MHC isoforms in bovine striated muscles: evidence for MHC-2B presence only in extraocular muscles. Journal of Experimental Biology 208, 42434253.Google Scholar
Whipple, G and Koohmaraie, M 1992. Effects of lamb age, muscle type, and 24-hour activity of endogenous proteinases on postmortem proteolysis. Journal of Animal Science 70, 798804.Google Scholar
Xiong, YL, Mullins, OE, Stika, JF, Chen, J, Blanchard, SP and Moody, WG 2007. Tenderness and oxidative stability of post-mortem muscles from mature cows of various ages. Meat Science 77, 105113.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yambayamba, EP and Price, M 1991. Fiber-type proportion and diameters in the longissimus muscle of beef heifers undergoing catch-up (compensatory) growth. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 71, 10311035.Google Scholar