Browsing by Author "Christensen, M."

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Carcass and meat quality characteristics of indigenous cattle in Tanzania
(EGERTON UNIVERSITY, KENYA ., 2010) Mwilawa, A. J.; Kimambo, A. E.; Mtenga, L. A.; Laswai, G. H.; Madsen, J.; Hvelplund, T.; Weisbjerg, M. R.; Christensen, M.; Mgheni, D.M.
Seventy two Tanzania indigenous cattle (36 Boran steers; 2-3 years old; initial liveweight 225 kg and 36 Tanzania Short Horn Zebu (TSHZ); 3-4 years old; initial liveweight 117 kg) were randomly allocated to three dietary treatments to study the effects of breed, diet and ageing time on carcass and meat quality characteristics. Animals were fed three different diets: grazing alone (Diet 1: control), control + 50 % ad libitum concentrate intake (Diet 2) and ad libitum hay + ad libitum concentrate intake (Diet 3). The concentrate contained 126 g CP and 13 MJ ME per kg DM. The steers were fattened for 90 days, slaughtered, and carcass and meat quality assessed. Boran had heavier (P<0.05) empty body weight, carcass weight and greater rib area than TSHZ (242 vs. 192 kg; 132 vs. 108 kg and 56 vs. 47 cm2). Animals fed diet 3 had higher (P<0.05) dressing percentage, carcass fat thickness, conformation score and normal meat colour score (54%; 2 cm; 12; 2.9) followed by Diet 2 (51%; 0.9 cm; 9; 3.7 and lastly Diet 1 (47%; 0.6 cm; 7; 4.4). In addition, longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle from animals fed Diet 3 had the lowest (P<0.05) shear force (45 N) indicating very tender meat whereas LD from animals fed diet 1 had the highest value (60 N) indicating less tender meat. Increasing post-mortem storage time from 2 up to 20 days decreased (P<0.05) shear force by 65%. It is concluded that both Boran and TSHZ cattle obtained acceptable range of meat quality values and that tender meat can be produced from indigenous cattle through feedlot finishing and post-mortem storage at refrigerated temperatures
Influence of age and method of carcass suspension on meat quality attributes of pure bred Ankole bulls
(Elsevier B.V., 2014-09-09) Kamatara, K.; Mpairwe, D.; Christensen, M.; Eskildsen, C.E.; Mutetikka, D.; Muyonga, J.; Mushi, D.; Omagor, S.; Nantongo, Z.; Madsen, J.
This study investigated the effect of age at slaughter, pre-rigour carcass suspension and their interaction on meat quality of longissimus dorsi from Ankole bulls. Ankole bulls (45) were evenly distributed into three age groups (2, 3 or 5 years). Immediately after slaughter, carcasses were weighed, halved and sides were either suspended in the Achilles tendon or pelvic bone until 48 h postmortem. Carcass weights, grades and fat scores increased (P o 0.001) with increasing age. Pelvic suspended sides had lower (P o0.001) chilling and cooking loss than Achilles-suspended sides across all age groups. Collagen solubility decreased (Po 0.001), while shear force increased (P o 0.001) with increasing age. Pelvic suspension decreased shear force across all age groups and the decrease was more pronounced in 5 year old bulls. The present study indicates that pelvic suspension is beneficial in eliminating the age-induced increase in toughness in longissimus thoracis from Ankole bulls.