<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

Beef production must combine the interests of both producers and consumers, taking into account the sustainable use of environmental resources. The aim of the study was to analyze and compare the slaughter results, meet chemical composition and pH value of three beef breeds – Aberdinangus (AA), Hereford (HF) and Limousin (LI) bulls. The bulls were fattened on Latvian and Lithuanian farms, mainly using grass forage.
The breed and age of bulls before slaughter significantly affected all slaughter results, except for fat class. From the meat chemical composition traits, the bull breed and age before slaughter had a significant effect only on the protein content. LI bulls showed the highest carcass weight 301.1±6.8 kg (p&lt;0.05), dressing percentage 58.2±1.1% (p&lt;0.05) and conformation score 3.56±0.18 points. The best fattened carcasses were obtained from AA bulls - 2.43±0.20 points. Muscle samples of <italic>musculus longissimus</italic> (<italic>M. longissimus)</italic> bulls of LI breed showed higher content of moisture (72.0±1.0%), protein (23.0±0.2%), ash (1.1±0.0%) and cholesterol (56.7±6.6 mg 100 g−1). AA breed bulls showed higher total fat (6.6±1.2%) and iron content (13.1±0.6 mg). The highest pH was observed in the meat obtained from AA bulls – 6.0±0.1, LI and HF breed bulls showed pH 5.8±0.0 and 5.8±0.1 respectively. Correlation analysis showed a significant, strong positive correlation between cold carcass weight and dressing percentage for AA and LI bulls, r=0.90 and r=0.88, respectively. For LI breed bulls, a strong positive correlation was also found between the cold carcass weight and the conformation score (r=0.98, p&lt;0.01).
</abstract>

Beef production must combine the interests of both producers and consumers, taking into account the sustainable use of environmental resources. The aim of the study was to analyze and compare the slaughter results, meet chemical composition and pH value of three beef breeds – Aberdinangus (AA), Hereford (HF) and Limousin (LI) bulls. The bulls were fattened on Latvian and Lithuanian farms, mainly using grass forage.
The breed and age of bulls before slaughter significantly affected all slaughter results, except for fat class. From the meat chemical composition traits, the bull breed and age before slaughter had a significant effect only on the protein content. LI bulls showed the highest carcass weight 301.1±6.8 kg (p<0.05), dressing percentage 58.2±1.1% (p<0.05) and conformation score 3.56±0.18 points. The best fattened carcasses were obtained from AA bulls - 2.43±0.20 points. Muscle samples of musculus longissimus (M. longissimus) bulls of LI breed showed higher content of moisture (72.0±1.0%), protein (23.0±0.2%), ash (1.1±0.0%) and cholesterol (56.7±6.6 mg 100 g−1). AA breed bulls showed higher total fat (6.6±1.2%) and iron content (13.1±0.6 mg). The highest pH was observed in the meat obtained from AA bulls – 6.0±0.1, LI and HF breed bulls showed pH 5.8±0.0 and 5.8±0.1 respectively. Correlation analysis showed a significant, strong positive correlation between cold carcass weight and dressing percentage for AA and LI bulls, r=0.90 and r=0.88, respectively. For LI breed bulls, a strong positive correlation was also found between the cold carcass weight and the conformation score (r=0.98, p<0.01).

Slaughter Results, Meat Chemical Composition and pH of Aberdinangus, Hereford and Limousin bulls

Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies

Rural Sustainability Research

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Beef production must combine the interests of both producers and consumers, taking into account the sustainable use of environmental resources. The aim of the...

Slaughter Results, Meat Chemical Composition and pH of Aberdinangus, Hereford and Limousin bulls

Published Online: Dec 22, 2021

Page range: 13 - 21

Received: May 05, 2021

Accepted: Oct 01, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plua-2021-0013

Keywords
beef cattle, slaughter results, meat chemical composition, pH

© 2021 Inga Muizniece et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Slaughter Results, Meat Chemical Composition and pH of Aberdinangus, Hereford and Limousin bulls

Published Online: Dec 22, 2021

Page range: 13 - 21

Received: May 05, 2021

Accepted: Oct 01, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plua-2021-0013

Keywordsbeef cattle, slaughter results, meat chemical composition, pH

© 2021 Inga Muizniece et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
beef cattle, slaughter results, meat chemical composition, pH