Analysis of the physical meat quality in partridge (Alectoris chukar) and its relationship with intramuscular fat

Abstract

This study was undertaken to assess the effect of various levels of intramuscular fat ( IMF : <0.5%, 0.5–0.99%, 1.0–1.49%, 1.5–1.99%, 2.0–2.49%, and >2.5%) on the physical meat quality of partridge. Physical characteristics such as moisture, pH, shear force, water-holding capacity ( WHC ), and color, along with IMF, were measured on 414 partridges (pectoral muscle). In this study, partridge meat was described as a kind of tender and moderately juicy meat with a nice color. Additionally, tenderness was significantly different between IMF < 0.5% and IMF > 0.5% levels ( P < 0.01). IMF >0.5% also obtained higher value of WHC than IMF <0.5% although the difference was statistically nonsignificant. IMF levels did not affect pH or color. The results showed that IMF content was not significantly correlated with physical meat quality. However, in terms of eating experience, the minimum IMF level for better meat quality for consumer was 0.5%. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that IMF content had significant negative correlations with moisture content but not with pH ( r = −0.066), shear force ( r = −0.072), WHC ( r = 0.085), or color (L*( r = −0.049), a*( r = −0.028) and b*( r = 0.045)). Besides, meat pH had significant negative correlations with WHC ( r = −0.036; P < 0.01) and lightness (L*) ( r = −0.292; P < 0.01). Consequently, we consider pH to be one of the most important factors in evaluating meat quality of partridge.

Transcriptome Profiling Analysis of Muscle Tissue Reveals Potential Candidate Genes Affecting Water Holding Capacity in Chinese Simmental Beef Cattle

“…Their detailed information on carcass and meat quality traits between the two groups was presented in Table 1 and Supplementary Table S1. In comparison with the L-WHC group, the H-WHC group showed lower 35kg Water loss (%) (p < 0.05) of LD muscle, demonstrating WHC had a significantly negative correlation with water loss, which was consistent with previous studies 5,15,16 .…”

“…Farouk et al found WHC was higher in Bovine M. semimembranosus with inherently higher pH compared to lower pH 19 . Conversely, Wen et al revealed WHC had significant and negative genetic correlations with pH 16 . The reason for the opposite conclusions of the above studies on the correlation between WHC and pH was that WHC was measured at different periods after animal slaughter.…”

“…Brad Kim et al concluded that cryogenic freezing could lead to a significant increase in WHC and decrease SF values significantly 14 . WHC could directly affect other meat quality parameters, which was positively related to IMF content while negatively regulated drip loss and cooking loss [15][16][17] . PH was also a major element affecting the WHC 18 .…”

Transcriptome profiling analysis of muscle tissue reveals potential candidate genes affecting water holding capacity in Chinese Simmental beef cattle

“…In this study, pH had a significant correlation with IMF, but not with WHC, which was consistent with the correlation between pH and IMF reported in the previous study 27 . WHC increased linearly as pH increased in the LD muscle of beef 31 , inversely, it was negatively correlated with pH in pork and partridge 14 , 32 . The relationship between pH and WHC was not consistent among studies, including our own.…”

“…Farouk et al found WHC was higher in Bovine M. semimembranosus with inherently higher pH compared to lower pH 17 . Conversely, Wen et al revealed WHC had significant and negative genetic correlations with pH 14 . The reason for the opposite conclusions of the above studies on the correlation between WHC and pH was that WHC was measured at different periods after animal slaughter.…”