Effects of Age and Sex on Quality, Tenderness and Collagen Content of Bovine Longissimus Muscle

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The effects of age and sex on quality, tenderness and collagen content of bovine longissimus muscle were studied in 20 male calves selected from the same herd and slaughtered at 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 months of age. Age and sex were of equal importance in affecting muscle tenderness. Steaks from the 6- and 18-month groups were generally more tender than steaks from the 9-, 12- and 15-month groups when evaluated by the Warner-Bratzler shear instrument or a trained taste panel. Younger animals had significantly larger ribeyes and less backfat per unit of chilled carcass weight than older animals. Connective tissue residues isolated from the longissimus muscle of the 6- and 9-month groups contained a higher (P<.05) percentage moisture than similar residues from the 15- and 18-month groups. Protein content of the connective tissue residue increased gradually with increasing age of the animal. The 6- and 9-month groups had a higher (P<.05) collagen content in the connective tissue residue than did the two oldest (15 and 18 months) groups. A low correlation was found between tenderness measures and collagen content of bovine beef muscle from the various age groups. Collagen, measured as hydroxy-proline, was not a critical measure of longissimus muscle tenderness. Copyright © 1971. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1971 by American Society of Animal Science.

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: