Chemical Composition and Quality Characteristics of Meat in Three One-Humped Camel (Camelus dromedarius) Breeds as Affected by Muscle Type and Post-Mortem Storage Period.

Gamaleldin M Suliman,Elsayed O.S Hussein,Ayman A Swelum,Mohamed E Abd El-Hack,Hatem S Ali,Abdullah N Alowaimer,Sameh A Abdelnour

doi:10.3390/ani9100834

Abstract

Simple SummaryThe present study aimed to investigate the influences of muscle type and postmortem storage period on meat chemical composition and quality attributes of three breeds of camels, including Baladi Saudi, Pakistani, and Somali. Baladi Saudi and Pakistani had better carcass characteristics than Somali. In addition, the longissimus lumborum muscle had better meat quality and the storage process can enhance quality features of meats that have relatively small amounts of connective tissue and that have not cold-shortened.The influence of muscle type and postmortem storage period on meat chemical composition and quality attributes of three breeds of camels (Baladi Saudi, Pakistani, and Somali) were investigated in this study. Crude fat and ash content were significantly higher in the Pakistani than in the Baladi Saudi and Somali breeds, except for higher moisture content observed in the Somali breed. The longissimus lumborum (LL) and semimembranosus (SM) muscles had a greater crude protein than the biceps femoris (BF) muscle. Storage period exhibited a significant reduction in pH values and improvement in color components of meat. The Somali breed produced higher cooking loss % and shear force, with a lower water holding capacity than the Baladi Saudi and Pakistani breeds. The LL muscle had better cooking loss %, water holding capacity, and shear force, whereas storage period (7 days) exhibited a significant reduction in the myofibrillar fragmentation index. Baladi Saudi and Pakistani breeds and LL muscle samples presented better meat sensory attributes, while storage period had no significant influence on the overall sensory characters of meat. In conclusion, there were significant differences between the chemical and structural characteristics of the LL, BF, and SM muscle samples among the three breeds of camel. Baladi Saudi and Pakistani had better meat quality traits than the Somali breed. In addition, LL muscles had better nutritional values and meat quality parameters than BF and SM muscles. Improvement in meat quality attributes were achieved with the storage process of 7 days. It is observed that, the Saudi Baladi camels have a merit of low fat content over both Somali and Pakistani camel breeds. It is also concluded that no significant effects were observed between the treatments as a result of storage when sensory attributes were considered. Moreover, breed, muscle and storage period were interacted significantly only with regard to lightness color space and shear force. This is useful knowledge for the meat industry for optimizing processing and storage procedures for various camel muscles.

Highlights

The Arabian dromedary camel or the one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius) is common in the dryland and hot arid areas of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, while the Bactrian two-humped camel (Camelus bactrianus) is distributed in central Asia, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia [1]
Significant differences were detected in crude protein, crude fiber and ash between muscle types
We investigated the effects of breed, the type of muscle and storage period on the color components, and observed that these factors affected significantly on the color components

Summary

Introduction

The Arabian dromedary camel or the one-humped camel (Camelus dromedarius) is common in the dryland and hot arid areas of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, while the Bactrian two-humped camel (Camelus bactrianus) is distributed in central Asia, China, Kazakhstan, and Russia [1]. C. dromedarius is exceptionally well-adapted to drought, is heat tolerant, and is able to survive and produce high quality animal protein under extremely harsh environmental conditions in comparison to other domestic animals [2,3,4]. The population of dromedary camels is increasing worldwide because of the unique features of camels, including an exceptional ability to survive and thrive under adverse climatic conditions such as high ambient temperatures, low rainfall, and feed scarcity. Considering the similarity of the properties of camel meat to cattle meat for numerous quality traits, the increasing acceptability of camel meat globally, and their therapeutics uses, there are huge opportunities for technological development of camel meat traits [5,6]. The technological enhancement of camel quality traits, such as improving cooking loss, color, flavor, tenderness, juiciness, and acceptability, increasing

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