Abstract

The objective was to examine the effects of concentrate level (barley grain 39 and 74 g dry matter/kg(0.60) live weight) and allocation regime (steady, increased, decreased) on meat quality of growing dairy bulls fed grass silage ad libitum. Chemical, instrumental and sensory analyses were used for measuring quality of longissimus lumbonun (LL). Greater concentrate level increased fat content (P = 0.035) and tenderness of sensory analysis (P = 0.009) of LL but did not affect pH, colour, drip loss, sarcomere length, shear force, juiciness or flavour. Periodic concentrate allocation reduced drip loss (P = 0.046) and tenderness (P = 0.001) compared to steady feeding. Observed effects on meat quality were minor and one explanation for this might be low carcass and meat fat content in all treatments. The experiment demonstrated the ability of growing bulls to adapt to different feeding regimes without major effects on meat quality, but simultaneously highlighted the challenge to affect beef quality by practically feasible diets.

Keywords

Beef production; Beef quality; Concentrate supplementation; Compensatory growth; Grass silage; Sensory quality

Published in

Meat Science
2018, Volume: 143, pages: 184-189
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCI LTD

SLU Authors

• Huhtanen, Pekka

  • Department of Agricultural Research for Northern Sweden, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Food Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2018.04.033

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/97095