Factors Related to Longissimus Tenderness Among Alternate Methods of Lean Beef Production

Abstract

A 2'factorial arrangement of treatments comparing bull versus steer, Angus versus Limousin, and zeranol implanted versus nonimplanted controls was used as a data source for this trial. Bulls had less intramuscular lipid and more total collagen than steers. Limousin had less intramuscular lipid, shorter sarcomere lengths and a higher percentage of fast-twitch glycolytic Jibers than Angus cattle. Limousin and implanted cattle had more rapid postmortem temperature declines. Chemical, physical and histological traits as well as yield and quality grade traits were used in correlation procedures to examine their relationship with sensory panel tenderness and Warner-Bratzler shear force values of longissirnus muscle steaks. The results of this trial indicate that postmortem muscle temperature decline plays a role in longissimus palatability and must be considered in the production of leaner beef.

Effects of diet, breed and slaughter endpoint on growth performance, carcass composition and beef quality traits in Limousin and Charolais steers

“…Total collagen content was unaffected by diet while diet differences (P < 0.08) in soluble collagen content are of questionable biological significance. In contrast, total collagen was greater (P < 0.001) and soluble collagen lower (P < 0.001) in Charolais vs. Limousin, which is contrary to nonsignificant breed differences in collagen reported in previous studies (Cross et al 1984;Vanderwert et al 1989;Tatum et al 1990). A diet-by-endpoint interaction (P < 0.01) for initial juiciness was due to the taste panel assessing a lower score to corn-fed cattle slaughtered at a market weight endpoint which is in contrast to the diet-by-endpoint interaction (P < 0.02) for juiciness where the taste panel assigned a higher score to corn-fed cattle slaughtered at a market weight endpoint.…”

The effects of feeding calcium salts of conjugated linoleic acid on performance, composition, and meat quality attributes of finishing steers

“…Steaks used for WBS analysis were cut 2.54 cm thick. The WBS procedure was followed according to the research guidelines published by the American Meat Science Association (AMSA, 1995) (Moller et al, 1981;Williams et al, 1983;Vanderwert et al, 1989;Morgan et al, 1991;Wulf et al, 1996;Boleman et al, 1997;George et al, 1997;Mir et al, 1997;Shackelford et al, 1997a;Shackelford et al, 1997b;Whe,der et al, 1997).…”