Colour stability and water-holding capacity of M. longissimus and carcass characteristics in fallow deer (Dama dama) grazed on natural pasture or fed barley

Abstract

Abstract:The effects of feeding regimen on carcass characteristics, meat colour and water-holding capacity of M. longissimus were studied in 24 female fallow deer (Dama dama). All animals were farm raised; twelve were grazed on pasture and twelve were fed barley and a small amount of hay prior to slaughter. The animals were slaughtered at two occasions (during the Southern Hemisphere spring); after 19 weeks of feeding (n=12; 6 grazing and 6 barley fed animals; group 1) and after 24 weeks of feeding (n=12; 6 grazing and 6 barley fed animals; group 2). The barley/hay-fed deer had significantly higher body condition scores and carcass weights than the pasture raised group. No difference in meat ultimate pH values between the treatment groups was recorded. The meat from the pasture raised deer had significantly longer colour display life after 2 and 3 weeks of refrigerated storage (+ 2.0 ºC) in vacuum bags. There was no difference in drip loss between the two treatment groups. However, significantly lower drip losses were found in meat from the animals in group 2 compared with the ones in group 1 (P ≤ 0.001). It was concluded that the feeding regimen of the animals is an important factor that contributes to the variation in quality of fresh chilled deer meat (venison), mainly the colour stability and display life of vacuum packaged meat.

Farmed-raised fallow deer (Dama dama L.) carcass characteristics and meat nutritional value

“…Slaughter weight (49 kg) and hot carcass weight (27 kg) were higher than reported by Volpelli et al (2002) for an 18-month male FD (42 kg and 24 kg, respectively), but lower than a hot carcass weight reported by Stanisz et al (2015) for a 32-month male FD (33 kg). However, the dressing percentage, in this study, was lower than reported by Stanisz et al (2015), Volpelli et al (2002) and Wiklund et al (2005) (55.5% vs. 63.3%, 57.7% and 67.2%, respectively), which was caused by a higher weight of internal organs and gastrointestinal tract in this study. In contrast, Kudrnáčová et al (2019) reported similar slaughter and carcass weights and dressing percentage (45 kg, 23 kg and 51%, respectively) for a 17-month-old farmed-raised FD from pasture feeding.…”

“…The significant role of the animal diet on the slaughter value of carcasses and meat quality was reported by Kudrnáčová et al ( 2019 ), Volpelli et al ( 2003 ) and Wiklund et al ( 2005 ). In this study, farm-raised FD were pasture-fed, however, during autumn and winter periods their diet was supplemented with hay, silage and concentrate mixtures, which might have affected carcass and meat quality and produced results which were not described in previous papers.…”

Influence of selected factors on meat quality from farm-raised and wild fallow deer (Dama dama): a review

“…Volpelli et al (2003) did not show any significant effect of feeding on the WHC measurements (drip loss, thermal drip, WHC-press test). Similar to results obtained by Hutchison (2012) and Hutchison et al (2012), Wiklund et al (2005) observed that meat from animals slaughtered in October and November fed with hay and barley characterized with higher purge loss than meat from animals kept in pasture. Hutchison et al (2012) reported that water content in meat was the same in both analyzed groups of animals.…”

“…However, Volpelli et al (2003) reported higher color parameters for meat from fallow deer fed concentrate compared with animals kept in pasture. Results obtained by Wiklund et al (2005) show that animals fed only with the pasture forage characterized with higher a* value measured 1 d after slaughter and after 7, 14, and 21 d in the vacuum packaging.…”

The Effect of Barley and Lysine Supplementation of Pasture-Based Diet on Growth, Carcass Composition and Physical Quality Attributes of Meat from Farmed Fallow Deer (Dama dama)

“…Meat production generally increases with increasing dietary crude protein levels [14]. Previous studies dealing with different diets [11,12,13,15,16,17] have revealed differences in growth and carcass composition between deer grazing pasture and those supplemented with grain-based diets. In general, deer fed/supplemented with concentrates had higher carcass weights and dressing-out proportions than animals grazing pasture.…”