Muscle fibers and meat quality of different cuts from contemporary Nellore and Nellore X Santa Gertrudes females finished on pasture

• Grant number: 14/20603-4
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: November 01, 2014 - April 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal researcher: Wignez Henrique
• Grantee: Wignez Henrique
• Home Institution: Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Angélica Simone Cravo Pereira ; Emanuel Almeida de Oliveira ; Laís Regina Simonetti ; Thiago Martins Pivaro

Abstract

Meat quality is directly related to the characteristics of muscles fibers (type, number and area) and, depending of muscle localization and function on animal, these characteristics may differ. The objective is to correlate the types of muscle fibers to shear force and fatty acids profile of several meat cuts, as well as carcass characteristics, weight and yields of primary and secondary cuts from heifers of different genetic compositions. This work will be developed at Unidade de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento da Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios - APTA, in São José do Rio Preso, SP. Thirty-two contemporary females,16 Nellore and 16 crossbred Nellore x Santa Gertrudis, with 24 months of age, managed exclusively on pasture throughout their lives receiving only mineral salt will be use. It will be considered a completely randomized design, in a factorial scheme, with two genetic groups, five muscles and 16 repetitions. All the animals will be slaughter in the same day, and the criterion will be the average weight of Nellore females (450 kg of body weight). The females will be weighed after complete fasting for 16 hours and slaughtered in a commercial plant, following standard procedures. Hot carcass characteristics as length, width, pH, temperature and weight will be taken. After 24 hours of cooling, Longissimus pH, carcass weight and yield will be measure, as well as weight and yield of primary and secondary cuts. Ribeye area and backfat thickness will be measured in Longissimus muscle between the 12th and 13th ribs. The muscles Biceps femoris, Longissimus, Semitendinosus, Superficial pectoral and Triceps brachii will be taken for determining the meat color, water holding capacity, cooking losses, shear force, cholesterol, chemical composition, fatty acids profile and muscle fiber characteristics. It will be calculated fatty acids sums and relations, quality indexes and enzymatic activity on each muscle. Fiber composition of the five muscles will be correlated with the all the other characteristics, using simple Pearson correlation. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

PIVARO, THIAGO MARTINS; HENRIQUE, WIGNEZ; DE OLIVEIRA, EMANUEL ALMEIDA; VIANA COUTINHO FILHO, JOSE LUIZ; PERES, ROBERTO MOLINARI; CARVALHO, VICTOR GALLI. Carcass characteristics of purebred and crossbred Nellore females fed solely pasture. SEMINA-CIENCIAS AGRARIAS, v. 37, n. 6, p. 4213-4220, 2016. Web of Science Citations: 0.