Abstract
Aim of study: To assess the potential of using infrared ocular thermography (IROT) as a tool to predict beef quality at the slaughterhouse.Area of study: The study was carried out in the Salteras’s slaughterhouse (Seville, Spain).Material and methods: Ocular temperature images were captured from 175 lean young bulls prior to slaughter. Carcasses were classified into three groups according to weight: ˂250 kg, 250-310 kg and ˃310 kg. IROT was measured just before slaughter and pH was measured 24 h later. Colour parameters (CIELAB space) were evaluated 48 h post-slaughter. Water holding capacity was evaluated at seven days after slaughter.Main results: IROT mean values were higher in heavier bulls (p<0.05), probably due to these animals appeared to movilize a greater blood flow, thus increasing ocular temperature. Furthermore, IROT showed a statistically significant correlation with both pH from light carcasses (r=0.66; p<0.001), and mean Hue value from all carcass weights (r=-0.22; p<0.05). A quadratic regression analysis accounting carcass weight as a continuous variable, found medium to strong fit values for pH (R2=0.52; RMSE=0.032; p<0.01) and medium fit values for H* (R2=0.41; RMSE=3.793; p<0.001), changing their relation with IROT depending on carcass weight.Research highlights: IROT showed potential to become a useful tool to assess pH in light carcasses and to assess H* in all carcasses of young bulls prior to slaughter, regardless their weight. However, further studies would be recommended under more variable pre-slaughter stress conditions.
Highlights
Infrared thermography (IRT) represents a noninvasive method used in numerous applications, in industry
Effectiveness of IRT has been proved for diagnostic purposes in animal diseases (Martins et al, 2013), to assess physiological and metabolic parameters in production animals (McManus et al, 2016) or to predict physiological variables related to the thermal stress of cattle (Viera de Sousa et al, 2018)
Stressors factors at the slaughterhouse increase physical activity of the animals causing an increase in metabolic activity, heat production, increase of blood flow and depletion of muscle glycogen, leading to increase ultimate pH in meat (Eriksen et al, 2013)
Summary
Infrared thermography (IRT) represents a noninvasive method used in numerous applications, in industry. Effectiveness of IRT has been proved for diagnostic purposes in animal diseases (Martins et al, 2013), to assess physiological and metabolic parameters in production animals (McManus et al., 2016) or to predict physiological variables related to the thermal stress of cattle (Viera de Sousa et al, 2018). Infrared ocular thermography (IROT) could be used to assess the neuro-physiological and stress conditions of animals at slaughter (Weschenfelder et al, 2013; Losada-Spinosa et al, 2018; Rocha et al, 2019). Stressors factors at the slaughterhouse increase physical activity of the animals causing an increase in metabolic activity, heat production, increase of blood flow and depletion of muscle glycogen, leading to increase ultimate pH in meat (Eriksen et al, 2013)
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