Characterization of meat from three Indian native cattle breeds and cross-bred cows

Abstract

The current study was undertaken to evaluate various quality attributes of meat from three Indian native cattle breeds and cross-bred cows using Principal Component Analysis. Three muscles each from eight Vechur, Kasargod Dwarf, Gir and cross-bred cows of 10 years of age were utilized and analyzed for 13 variables such as physico-chemical and compositional attributes. The coefficients of variation of each parameter were in the range from 1.04 to 42.54 per cent. PCA transformed the variables into five principal components (PC), which explained about 75 per cent of total variability. PC1 was comprised of Warner-Bratzler shear force, collagen content, collagen solubility and sarcomere length. PC2 was characterized by a*, b*, cooking loss and fat content. Loading plots of the first two PCs revealed high correlation for objective measures of meat tenderness. In score plot, meat samples from cross-breds and native cattle breeds were organized into two distinct groups.