Anatomical and joint dissection studies of tissue weight distribution in buffalo bulls and cows: Part 1—Distribution of muscle and bone

Abstract

Carcasses from six buffalo bulls (slaughtered between 430 and 560 kg liveweight) and six buffalo cows (slaughtered between 405 and 583 kg liveweight) were dissected, the left sides by the anatomical approach, the right sides being jointed and the joints being dissected into fat, muscle, bone and other tissues. Weights of the anatomically dissected muscles and bones, and weights of muscle and bone dissected from each cut, were regressed on weight of the respective tissue in the side. The influence of the animals' sex on tissue distribution was investigated using a one-way analysis of covariance. Results were consistent with those reported on cattle in that (i) sex had no influence on the amount of total muscle occurring in the distal parts of limbs or surrounding the spinal column and connecting the fore limb to the thorax and neck, (ii) females had more of their total muscle in the flank or abdominal wall and less in the loin than males, and (iii) females tended to have less of their total side bone in the appendicular skeleton and more in the axial skeleton than males. However, the influence of the animal's sex on the amount of total muscle in the proximal parts of its limbs was significant in buffaloes but not in cattle; the reverse was true for the muscle group of the thorax and neck. The overall sex differences in bone-weight distribution for buffaloes were as small as previously reported for cattle, sheep and pigs. Features of better muscle-weight distribution in buffalo males as compared with females and in Egyptian buffaloes as compared with Australian buffaloes and British cattle breed types are discussed.