Change of fatty acid composition of the lumbar longissimus during the final stage of fattening in the Japanese Black cattle

Abstract

Consideration of the shortened fattening period seems to be worthwhile for the realization of profitable beef production. In this study, change of fatty acid composition of the lumbar longissimus during the final stage of fattening was investigated in Japanese Black cattle. Each of 110 fattening animals was sampled three times: the initial two samples were taken by biopsy (25.7 months and 27.5 months on average) and the final one was from carcasses (29.9 months on average). Preliminary analysis indicated that removing muscle tissues from the constant body position of the living animals should be essential for sampling. Average monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) at three sampling points were 58.1%, 58.5% and 60.5%, and the differences of the third sampling with the first and second samplings were significant. Both in steers and heifers, MUFA also increased as the fattening stage proceeded, and MUFA of the heifers at all the sampling points were significantly higher than those of the steers. The increasing rate of MUFA rose from 0.21 percentage points (pp)/month at period 1 (from the first sampling to the second sampling) to 0.84 pp/month at period 2 (from the second sampling to the slaughter).

Estimation of genetic parameters for carcass grading traits, image analysis traits, and monounsaturated fatty acids in Japanese Black cattle from Hyogo Prefecture

“…The animals used in their study were approximately 3 months younger than the animals in our study. Because MUFA is known to be affected by age (Honda et al, 2016), it was suggested that age at slaughter largely contributed to the difference in MUFA between the two studies.…”

Relationship between Beef Quality and Bull Breed

“…Intensive feeding and extended finishing time can favorably affect the yield and quality of beef produced. It is important to increase the intensity and method of feeding in the final fattening stage [ 100 ]. The high growth potential of the animal at a young age is inhibited when the animal reaches somatic maturity [ 101 ].…”