PIGMENTATION MUSCULAIRE DU VEAU DE BOUCHERIE. I. - FACTEURS DE VARIATION

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Abstract
Preliminary study of causes of variations in color of muscles of calves fed exclusively on milk was made on French Friesian calves. Intensity of color was studied from content of heme Fe in Adductor and Rectus abdominis muscles. Similarly the heme Fe content of the total musculature was estimated after homo-genizing all the muscles. A close relation between the hematocrit value before slaughter and the content of heme Fe in muscle shows that coloration is related to the degree of anemia in the calf. This in turn relates to the hematocrit or Hb values. Difference in Fe content of blood from an early age can only be a reflection of a similar dif-ference in other parts of the organism, particularly liver and muscle. Study of change in the total amount of Fe indifferent parts of the or-ganism show that in calves fed exclusively on milk and growing to 120 to 140 kg there was almost total depletion of the reserves in liver and an increase in blood and muscle. Despite this there is a large reduc-tion in the Fe content of these tissues in relation to unit liveweight.

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