Myorheological, Chemical and Colour Characteristics of Meat in Water Buffalo and Bovine Calves Slaughtered at 20, 28 and 36 Weeks

Abstract

The study was carried out on 13 muscles (Table 1) of water buffalo (Italian) and bovine (Italian Fviesian) calves raised under the same micro- environmental conditions and slaughtered at 20, 28 and 36 weeks of age (Table 2). The rheological (hardness, chewiness and water holding capacity, (WHO), chemical, (dry matter, protein, fat and ash) and colour variables (brightness and spectrophotometric curves) have been evaluated on raw meat. The more significant results were: 1) The muscle confirms its marked individuality by determining independently from age and species all the studied variables. 2) Age is determinant in varying the organoleptic characteristics — at 36 weeks the meat is harder, darker, fatter (positive variation in relation to palatability), requires more chewing energy and has more WHC (positive variation) than at 20 and 28 weeks. 3) The organoleptic characteristics of the meat of the two species vary in a similar way according to the slaughter age. 4) Within the age and considering the qualitative variables all together, the buffalo calves seem superior to the bovine and provide more uniform carcasses. 5) At this stage it seems opportune to integrate these results with breeding, slaughtering and cutting data, and to complete the slaughtering ages at 44 and 52 weeks. 6) The results confirm the usefulness of techniques employed for evaluation of organoleptic characteristics of meat in view of its technology, marketing and genetic improvement.