Veterinary Archives, Vol. 88 No. 1, 2018.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.24099/vet.arhiv.160720
The effect of sex and age at slaughter on the physicochemical properties of baby-beef meat
Dejan Marenčić
orcid.org/0000-0001-8352-4915
; College of Agriculture at Križevci, Križevci, Croatia
Ante Ivanković
; Department of Animal Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Lidija Kozačinski
orcid.org/0000-0002-7534-7362
; Department of Hygiene, Technology and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Maja Popović
; Department of Biology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Željka Cvrtila
; Department of Hygiene, Technology and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of sex and age at slaughter on the physicochemical properties and quality of Simmental baby-beef. The research was conducted on 1,200 livestock, of which 600 were male and 600 female. Male cattle were slaughtered at the age of 13 to 14 months, 15 to 16 months and 17 to 18 months, while female cattle were slaughtered at the age of 12 to 13 months, 14 to 15 months and 16 to 17 months. Physicochemical properties associated with the quality of meat (pH, EC and meat colour parameters) were measured 24 hours post mortem on the m. longissimus dorsi. While sex significantly influenced the physicochemical properties associated with the quality of baby-beef (P<0.001), different age at slaughter had little effect on the physicochemical properties associated with the quality of meat (P>0.05), thus indicating the possibility of increasing the slaughter age of male and female Simmental cattle up to 18 and 17 months respectively, without a substantial negative impact on the physicochemical properties associated with the quality of baby-beef.
Keywords
sex; age; slaughter; physicochemical properties; baby-beef
Hrčak ID:
192713
URI
Publication date:
22.1.2018.
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