BACKGROUND: Roughage-based low-input beef production systems are gaining increasing interest owing to the perceived ecological advantages and potential health benefits associated with the favourable fatty acid composition of such beef. The low plane of nutrition may on the other hand yield less tender beef by affecting growth, carcass weight and fatness and therefore, indirectly, early post-mortem (p.m.) proteolytic enzyme activity and sarcomere shortening. This study aimed to examine delayed chilling and electrical stimulation as promising techniques to control early p.m. muscle metabolism in a way that improves the tenderness of beef from purely grass-fed steers in comparison with that from steers receiving a finishing diet with concentrates.
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