The factors influencing beef quality in bulls, heifers and steers

Abstract

In the present study the biological factors which affect the nutritional and technological parameters and tenderness of beef were affect the nutritional and technological parameters and tenderness of beef were affect the nutritional and technological parameters and tenderness of beef were evaluated. We evaluated the effect of nutrition, commercial type, age of the animals at slaughter, carcass weight, net gains, duration of beef ageing and the class of meatiness and fat content in bulls, heifers and steers. For the experiment we chose animals at the end of the grazing period when they were weaned. The animals were fattened in the stable and divided into 3 groups (each group was represented by bulls, heifers and steers) based on the type of the feed ration: 1st group: maize silage, clover-grass silage, meadow hay and concentrates; 2nd group: maize silage, meadow hay, concentrates and urea; 3rd group: in winter the animals were fed clovergrass silage, from the end of April they grazed. Significant (P < 0.05) differences were revealed between the categories of cattle in the content of intramuscular fat, water holding capacity, meat colour, cooking loss, and meat tenderness. While evaluating the factors of animal nutrition, commercial type and carcass weight showed highly significant differences (P < 0.01) in the content of total protein and intramuscular fat in the meat. The technological properties of the meat were dependent (P < 0.01) on the type of the feed ration and on the commercial type, but they were also affected by the animal’s age at slaughter and duration of beef ageing which are the most important factors affecting the tenderness of meat.