Fatty Acid Profiles and Some Meat Quality Traits at Different Slaughter Weights of Brown Swiss Bulls

Abstract

This research was done to detect some meat quality traits and tissue fatty acid combination of the longissimus dorsi thoracis (LT) muscle of Brown Swiss bulls at the different slaughter weights (SW). The animal material of the study comprised 20 Brown Swiss bulls. In the study, Brown Swiss bulls were divided into two groups according to their SW as low (LSW (n=10); 431-503 kg) and high (HSW (n=10); 504-583 kg). In the study, the LSW group showed the lowest final pH value (pH(F)) (5.44) (P<0.05). As the SW increase, the L* (lightness) value decreased in the LT muscle of Brown Swiss bulls (P>0.05). In the research, the differences observed between the SW groups considering a* (redness) and C (chroma) values were found significant (P<0.05). LT muscle water holding capacity (PL) decreased (P<0.01) with increasing slaughter weight. In the study, the differences observed between SW groups in terms of drip losses (DL) after 3-day (DRP3) and 7-day (DRP7) storages and cooking losses (CL) determined were found insignificant (P>0.05). Freeze-thaw loss (FL) and ether extract (PEE) were found 4.35% and 1.01% higher, respectively, in the HSW group than the LSW group (P<0.05). Cholesterol content was determined as 66.15 and 70.68 mg 100 g(-1) meat in LSW and HSW groups, respectively. The ratios of n-6/n-3 (P<0.05) and PUFA/SFA (P>0.05) in the LT muscle decreased with the increase of SW. As a result, when LSW and HSW slaughter weight groups were evaluated considering the water losses causing financial losses in meat and fatty acids having beneficial effects on human health, it was seen that the LSW group came to the fore.