Relationship between gene expression, collagen and beef tenderness in progenies of representative bulls of the Wagyu Kuroge breed under tropical conditions

• Grant number: 23/08228-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Angélica Simone Cravo Pereira
• Grantee: Manuela Queiroz Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Beef is becoming increasingly consumed in Brazil, an increase accompanied by consumer demand for higher quality, creating a niche market for meats with greater demand for quality attributes, such as tenderness. Exploring the genetic potential of animals, such as the insertion of different breeds, has been a strategy to improve the national meat production potential. Products of the Wagyu Kuroge breed have been standing out in the world market because they have meat's characteristics that make it more valued. However, there is a lack of studies with Wagyu animals reared in tropical conditions, and, therefore, it is proposed to evaluate the relationship between gene expression, age, collagen, and meat tenderness in progenies of representative Wagyu Kuroge bulls reared under tropical conditions. Will be used forty progenies of bulls from different lineages of the Wagyu Kuroge breed (Itozakura, 100% Tajima, Hiroshima, High % Tajima), male, castrated, and confined with an initial age of 16 months. The animals will be kept under the same management conditions, receiving the same diet ad libitum. The animals will be slaughtered, on average, at 30 months. At the time of slaughter, samples of the Longissimus thoracis muscle will be collected for gene expression analysis. During deboning, samples of the Longissimus thoracis muscle will be collected for pH analysis, total cooking losses, shear force, quantification of total, insoluble, and thermosoluble collagen, and gene expression. It is expected that there is a difference in collagen gene expression between the different ages of the progenies from different strains of the Wagyu Kuroge breed, terminated in tropical conditions.