Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T11:58:16.318Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of growth pathway on beef quality in 18-month-old Angus and South Devon ✕ Angus pasture-fed steers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

P.D. Muir ,
N.B. Smith ,
P.M. Dobbie ,
D.R. Smith  and
M.D. Bown
P.D. Muir
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Poukawa Research Station, PO Box 8144, Havelock North, New Zealand
N.B. Smith
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Poukawa Research Station, PO Box 8144, Havelock North, New Zealand
P.M. Dobbie
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Ruakura Research Centre, Private Bag 3123, Hamilton, New Zealand
D.R. Smith
Affiliation:
AgResearch, Poukawa Research Station, PO Box 8144, Havelock North, New Zealand
M.D. Bown
Affiliation:
Rural Bag 2700, Foxton, New Zealand
Get access

Abstract

There is evidence that, in cattle, rapid compensatory growth after a period of growth restriction may increase the variability of beef quality and that variability is greater in breeds which reach larger body size at maturity. This experiment investigated the effect of compensatory growth following a period of winter growth restriction on carcass quality in steers of small and large mature size grazed on pasture. Angus (no. = 120) and South Devon ✕ Angus (SD✕ A; no. = 110) steers were allocated to non-restricted or restricted growth treatment groups and for 126 days over winter their grazing was managed to achieve mean live-weight gains of approximately 0·7 kg/day or to maintain live weight for each group respectively. Steers were slaughtered at the start (no. = 10 per breed) and end (no. = 20 per nutrition group (10 from each breed)) of the winter period for carcass evaluation. Thereafter, remaining steers were grazed together at a high pasture allowance to maximize growth and were slaughtered for carcass evaluation as they reached target live weights (Angus, 590 kg; SD✕ A, 620 kg). SD✕ A steers grew faster ( P < 0·05) during both the winter and finishing periods and reached target slaughter live weights approximately 20 days earlier than Angus steers. SD✕ A steers also had leaner carcasses than Angus steers at each slaughter although there was no significant difference in meat quality between breeds. However, there was a significant effect of restriction treatment on carcass weight and meat quality. The non-restricted steers grew faster, had heavier carcasses and more tender steaks than restricted steers, although there was no significant difference in carcass fatness (adjusted for hot carcass weight). Muscle calpain activities were positively correlated with live-weight gain during the finishing period suggesting increased potential for post-mortem myofibrillar proteolysis and therefore increased meat tenderness. However, in the present experiment this was confounded by an increase in shear force with age-at-slaughter, especially in the non-restricted steers. Nevertheless, steers which were heaviest at the start of the experiment reached slaughter live weight earliest, were leaner than average and had higher calpain system activities at slaughter regardless of breed or restriction treatment. Furthermore, in the non-restricted group, high initial live weight and early slaughter was associated with lower pH and more tender meat. In conclusion, although restriction affected meat quality attributes, it appears that live weight prior to food restriction also had a considerable effect on carcass characteristics at slaughter. Therefore, the characteristics of the early growth phase prior to the finishing period may have important consequences for meat quality.

Keywords

compensatory growthgrowthmeat qualitysteerstenderness.
Type
Growth, development and meat science
Information
Animal Science , Volume 72 , Issue 2 , April 2001 , pp. 297 - 308
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2001

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

Aberle, E. D., Reeves, E. S., Judge, M. D., Hunsley, R. E. and Perry, T. W. 1981. Palatability and muscle characteristics of cattle with controlled weight gain: time on a high energy diet. Journal of Animal Science 52: 757–763.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allingham, P. G., Harper, G. S. and Hunter, R. A. 1997. Effects of growth path on the tenderness of the semitendinosus muscle of Brahman-cross steers. Meat Science 48: 65–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowling, R. A., Riggs, J. K., Smith, G. C., Carpenter, Z. L., Reddish, R. L. and Butler, O. D. 1978. Production, carcass and palatability characteristics of steers produced by different management systems. Journal of Animal Science 46: 333–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowling, R. A., Smith, G. C., Carpenter, Z. L., Dutson, T. R. and Oliver, W. M. 1977. Comparison of forage-finished and grain-finished beef carcasses. Journal of Animal Science 45: 209–215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chrystall, B. B. and Devine, C. E. 1991. Quality assurance for tenderness. Meat Research Institute of New Zealand.Google Scholar
Dobbie, P. M., Singh, K., Thomson, B. C., Mercer, G. K., Bass, J. J. and Speck, P. A. 1995. Inter-muscle variation in the calpain system of red deer: implications for meat tenderness. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 55: 120–123.Google Scholar
Dolezal, H. G., Smith, G. C., Savell, J. W. and Carpenter, Z. L. 1982. Comparison of subcutaneous fat thickness, marbling and quality grade for predicting palatability of beef. Journal of Food Science 47: 397–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fishell, V. K., Aberle, E. D., Judge, M. D. and Perry, T. W. 1985. Palatability and muscle properties of beef as influenced by preslaughter growth rate. Journal of Animal Science 61: 151–157.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frazerhurst, L. F. and MacFarlane, P. 1983. A device for measuring the tenderness of meat. NZ patent 109045.Google Scholar
Gire, P. and Monin, G. 1979. Taux de la glycogéne musculaire, stress de transport et pH ultimé de la viande chez le mouton. Annales de la Technologie Agriculture 28: 433–444.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. L. 1969. Protein turnover in skeletal muscle. Journal of Biological Chemistry 244: 3217–3222.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldspink, D. F. 1986. Muscle proteinase activities during compensatory growth and atrophy. Experientia 42: 133–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goll, D. E., Kleese, W. C. and Szpacenko, A. 1989. Skeletal muscle proteases and protein turnover. In Animal growth regulation (ed. Campion, D. R Hausman, G. J. and Martin, R. J.), pp. 141–182. Plenum Publishing, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, J. B. and Hunt, M. C. 1982. Collagen solubility of A-activity bovine longissimus muscle as affected by nutritional regimen. Journal of Animal Science 55: 321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, S. J., Starkey, D. L., Calkins, C. R. and Crouse, J. D. 1990. Myofibrillar protein turnover in feed-restricted and realimented beef cattle. Journal of Animal Science 68: 2707–2715.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kauffman, R. G., Smulders, F. J. M., Hartman, W., Habel, R. E. and Bergström, P. L. 1990. Recommended terminology for the muscle commonly designated ‘Longissimus dorsi ‘. Meat Science 28: 259–265.Google Scholar
Knoblich, H. C., Fluharty, F. L. and Loerch, S. C. 1997. Effects of programmed gain strategies on performance and carcass characteristics of steers. Journal of Animal Science 75: 3094–3102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koohmaraie, M. 1988. The role of endogenous proteases in meat tenderness. Proceedings of the 41st reciprocal meat conference, pp. 89–100.Google Scholar
Koohmaraie, M. 1992. Effect of pH, temperature, and inhibitors of autolysis and catalytic activity of bovine skeletal muscle m-calpain. Journal of Animal Science 70: 3071–3080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krisman, C. R. 1962. A method for colorimetric estimation of glycogen with iodine. Analytic Biochemistry 4: 17–23.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lang, G. and Michal, G. 1974. D-glucose-6-phosphate and D-fructose-6-phosphate. In Methods in enzymatic analysis, volume 3, second edition (ed. Bergmeyer, H. U.), pp. 1228–1242. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Lochner, J. V., Kauffman, R. G. and Marsh, B. B. 1980. Early post mortem cooling rate and beef tenderness. Meat Science 4: 227–241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Merkel, M. F. and Pearson, A. M. 1975. Slow chilling could produce tender beef from lean carcasses. Meat Industry (May) p. 27.Google Scholar
Miller, R. K., Cross, H. R., Crouse, J. D. and Tatum, J. D. 1987. The influence of diet and time on feed on carcass traits and quality. Meat Science 19: 303–313.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Millward, D. J., Garlick, P. J., Stewart, R. J. C., Nnanyelugo, D. O. and Waterlow, J. C. 1975. Skeletal-muscle growth and protein turnover. Biochemical Journal 150: 235–243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Morgan, J. B., Wheeler, T. L., Koohmaraie, M., Crouse, J. D. and Savell, J. W. 1993. Effect of castration on myofibrillar protein turnover, endogenous proteinase activities, and muscle growth in bovine skeletal muscle. Journal of Animal Science 71: 408–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muir, P. D., Smith, N. B. and McCall, D. G. 1997. Effect of compensatory growth on feed intake and feed conversion efficiency of heavyweight steers. Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition in Australia, p. 261.Google Scholar
Nicol, A. M. and Kitessa, S. 1997. Influence of compensatory growth on production systems in New Zealand. In Growth and development of cattle: proceedings of the growth and development workshop. The Cattle and Beef Industry Co-operative Research Centre (Meat Quality), University of New England, Armidale, Australia.Google Scholar
Noll, F. 1974. L-lactate: determination with LDH, GPT and NAD. In Methods in enzymatic analysis, volume 3, second edition (ed. Bergmeyer, H. U.), pp. 1474–1479. Academic Press, London.Google Scholar
Parrett, D. F., Romans, J. R., Bechtel, P. J., Weichenthal, B. A. and Berger, L. L. 1985. Beef steers slaughtered at three fat-constant end points: Growth, I., efficiency and carcass characteristics. Journal of Animal Science 61: 436–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Purchas, R. W. 1990. An assessment of the role of pH differences in determining the relative tenderness of meat from bulls and steers. Meat Science 27: 129–140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rigg, B. 1987. Colorimetry and the CIE system. In Colour physics for industry (ed. McDonald, R.). Dyers Company Publications Trust, Bradford, West Yorkshire.Google Scholar
Sainz, R. D., De la Torre, F. and Oltjen, J. W. 1995. Compensatory growth and carcass quality in growth-restricted and refed beef steers. Journal of Animal Science 73: 2971–2979.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sainz, R. D., Thomson, B. C. and Mascood, F. N. 1992. Storage and separation of calpastatin and calpains I and II from ovine skeletal muscle. Federation of American Society of Experimental Biology Journal 6: A1968.Google Scholar
Shackelford, S.D., Koohmaraie, M., Cundiff, L. V., Gregory, K. E., Rohrer, G. A. and Savell, J. W. 1994. Heritabilities and phenotypic and genetic correlations for bovine postrigor calpastatin activity, intramuscular fat content, Warner-Bratzler shear force, retail product yield and growth rate. Journal of Animal Science 72: 857–863.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shimokomaki, M., Elsden, D. F. and Bailey, A. J. 1972. Meat tenderness: age-related changes in bovine intramuscular collagen. Journal of Food Science 37: 892.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, D. R., Smith, N. B. and Muir, P. D. 1999. Farm of origin and finishing effects on beef quality attributes. Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production 59: 282–286.Google Scholar
Trinder, P. 1969. Determination of glucose in blood using glucose oxidase with an alternative oxygen acceptor. Annals of Clinical Biochemistry 6: 24–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webby, R. W., Pleasants, A. B. and Greaves, L. A. 1993. Variation in cattle liveweights at marketing. Proceedings of the New Zealand Grasslands Association 55: 155–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wheeler, T. and Koohmaraie, M. 1991. A modified procedure of simultaneous extraction and subsequent assay of calcium-dependent and lysosomal protease systems from a skeletal muscle biopsy. Journal of Animal Science 69: 1559–1565.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, V. R., Stothers, S. C. and Vilaire, G. 1971. Synthesis and degradation of mixed proteins, and compositional changes in skeletal muscle of malnourished and refed rats. Journal of Nutrition 101: 1379–1390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zamora, F., Debiton, E., Lepetit, A., Dransfield, E. and Ouali, A. 1996. Predicting variability of ageing and toughness in beef m. longissimus lumborum et thoracis. Meat Science 43: 321–333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed