Fiber Diameter, Sarcomere Length and Tenderness of Certain Miscles of Crossbred Beef Steers

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Abstract
Fiber diameter and sarcomere length were determined on the uncooked and cooked longissimus, psoas major, and quadriceps femoris muscles from 76 steers from Angus and Hereford dams and Angus, Hereford, Santa Gertrudis and Charolais sires. Tenderness was determined by a trained taste panel and a Warner-Bratzler shear force. No effect of breed of dam was found on the tenderness, uncooked or cooked sarcomere length, cooked fiber diameter or change in sarcomere length due to Cooking. However, the steers from Angus dams had larger fiber diameters in the uncooked samples in all three muscles studied. The fiber diameter of the psoas major muscle from steers with Angus dams also shrank more during cooking. The steers sired by Santa Gertrudis bulls had greater sarcomere length in the cooked longissimus muscle, larger shrinkage in fiber diameter of the longissimus muscle during cooking, and smaller fiber diameter in the uncooked quadriceps femoris muscle. Uncooked psoas major muscles of steers from Angus bulls had the largest fiber diameters. The largest shrinkage in the fiber diameter of the quadriceps femoris muscle during cooking occurred in steers sired by Charolais bulls. Steers from Angus or Hereford bulls had more tender psoas major muscles. No significant effect of breed of sire on the tenderness of the longissimus or quadriceps femoris muscles was found. Low but significant correlations were found between tenderness and either sarcomere length, fiber diameter, or decreases in fiber diameter or sarcomere length due to cooking. Copyright © 1977. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1977 by American Society of Animal Science.