De electricitatis catholici musculari – Concerning the electrical properties of muscles, with emphasis on meat quality

Abstract

This study aims to explore the potential of evoked non-invasive surface electromyography (SEMG) analysis, in predicting meat quality traits in livestock. Evoked SEMG is a system that records, transdermally, electrical signals generated in muscle fibres upon external stimulation. These signals are reported as compound muscle action potentials (CMAP). CMAP parameters of LD correlated negatively and significantly to ultimate pH (pH 24h) at day 61, but not at day 153 after birth, and a similar albeit positive correlation was observed for muscle glycogen content. Muscle glycogen content and pH 24h correlated negatively in LD and BF. Negative significant correlations between CMAP parameters and shear force were found in LD at day 153 after birth, which might, in the range of the recording electrodes, reflect the combined effect of large cross-sectional area fibres and reduced perimysium content per unit volume of muscle. The fact that correlations between CMAP characteristics and quality traits of both metabolic and non metabolic origin could be established, warrants a fuller investigation of this method in terms of its potential as a predictive tool for meat quality traits in live animals.