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Associations between beef density by X-ray computed tomography, intramuscular fat and fatty acid composition: preliminary results

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 November 2017

E A Navajas*
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
R I Richardson
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Langford, United Kingdom
C A Glasbey
Affiliation:
Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
N Prieto
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
D W Ross
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
J J Hyslop
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
G Simm
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
R Roehe
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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Extract

X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning makes use of the different rates at which the tissues attenuate X-rays depending on their densities. CT muscle density (MD) is the average pixel value for this tissue in the CT images and is related to real density of the tissue, which depends on its chemical composition. One of the components determining muscle density is intramuscular fat (IMF). Studies in sheep have shown that MD, measured in vivo, was phenotypically and genetically correlated to IMF and to fatty acid (FA) composition in Scottish Blackface lambs (Karamichou et al. 2006). Intramuscular fat and FA are important traits to measure due to their association with the nutritional value and eating quality of meat. A novel automatic image analysis for spiral CT scans (SCTS) of beef primal cuts allows very accurate estimations of primal cut and carcass composition with R2 of 0.90 to 0.99 (Navajas et al., 2008). The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of MD of beef primal cuts with IMF and FA profile in Aberdeen Angus (AA) and Limousin (LIM) cattle, based on the CT thresholds estimated as part of the development of the image analysis described by Navajas et al. (2008).

Type
Theatre Presentations
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2009

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References

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