Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of aging period on shear force values and activities of calpain/calpastatin enzymes of the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle from rusa deer (Cervus timorensis). The shear force values were measured with instron materials testing machine. Results showed that postmortem storage influenced meat tenderness with a highly significant reduction of shear force value from 9.01±0.83 kg/cm2 at day 1 to 4.34±0.10 kg/cm2 at day 21 (P<0.01). Determination of the enzyme activities indicated that the μ-calpain activity decreased significantly from 1.50±0.42 to 0.19±0.28 units/g of meat (P<0.01), whereas m-calpain activity (22.88±9.64 to 16.95±8.34 units/g of meat) and calpastatin activity (9.93±2.37 to 6.82±2.96 units/g of meat) slightly decreased (P>0.05). Shear force values were significant correlated with higher levels of μ-calpain (r=0.915) and m-calpain (r=0.758), respectively. However, the values were not significant related to the calpastatin activity (r=0.462). Therefore, this study confirmed that in the case of rusa deer, μ-calpain is a key factor controlling postmortem meat tenderness compared to m-calpain and calpastatin. The results suggested that storage of the rusa deer meat for 7 days is enough to achieve aging of the LD muscle, which may help to reduce the cost of meat production.
Highlights
IntroductionRusa deer (cervus timorensis) have been an alternative farm animal. Most important commercial product in the tropical countries is deer meat [1]
Rusa deer have been an alternative farm animal
The shear force values, and the μ-calpain, m-calpain and calpastatin in the longissimus dorsi muscle of the rusa deer associated with postmortem storage were revealed
Summary
Rusa deer (cervus timorensis) have been an alternative farm animal. Most important commercial product in the tropical countries is deer meat [1]. Improvement of farm management, feeding and reproduction were studied, but improvement of the deer meat quality is uninformative. Tenderness is controlled by the level of proteolysis of the endogenous proteolytic enzymes of the calpain protease system including calpains and calpastatin [4,5,6,7]. The influences of the calpain enzyme system on meat tenderness can be expected to apply in deer meat [4,5, 8]. Studies on the meat tenderization of rusa deer has been limited in Thailand. The shear force values, and the μ-calpain, m-calpain and calpastatin in the longissimus dorsi muscle of the rusa deer associated with postmortem storage were revealed
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