Influence of feeding intake and type of muscle on quality and histochemical characteristics of dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) meat

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three levels of feed intake (1.5%, 2% or 2.5% of body weight) and individual muscle on quality and histochemical parameters of 10 dromedary camel (1–2 year-old). Meat quality including ultimate muscle pH, Warner-Bratzler shear force, sarcomere length, myofibrillar fragmentation index, expressed juice, cooking loss%, and colour L*, a*, b* were measured using standard methods. The histochemical staining properties of the myosin ATPase and succinate dehydrogenase stains were evaluated. The pH from the left side of Infraspinatus (IS), Triceps brachii (TB), Longissimus thoracis (LT), Biceps femoris (BF), Semitendinosus (ST) and Semimembranosus (SM) muscles was monitored using a portable pH meter at 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 and 48 hr postmortem. Feeding level had no significant effect on the initial muscle pH or rate of pH decline or muscle fibre type or meat quality characteristics. However, type of muscle had a significant effect on quality and muscle fibre type proportion and diameter. The LT muscle had the highest cooking loss (33.7%) and TB muscle had the lowest (28.8%). The Shear force values of ST (9.3 kg), SM (10.5 kg) and BF (9.9 kg) muscles were significantly higher than LT (5.7 kg) and IS (6.68 kg) muscles. The LT muscle had significantly higher values for L*, a*, b* than ST. The IS muscle had the highest myofibrillar fragmentation index (74.5), while BF muscle had the lowest value (63.0). The BF muscle had the highest proportion of Type I and the lowest proportion of Type IIA than other muscles. This study indicated that type of muscle had more effect than feeding level on quality characteristics of dromedary camel.