<b>Industrial crossbreeds on carcass and meat characteristics of veal heifers</b> - doi: 10.4025/actascianimsci.v32i4.6852

Abstract

The experiment was carried out with the objective of comparing carcass and meat characteristics of 18 heifers from the following industrial crossbreeds: ½ Nelore ½ Limousin (L), ½ Limousin ¼ Red Angus ¼ Nelore (LR), and ⅝ Red Angus ⅜ Nelore (RNR). The heifers were confined at 18 months of age, weighing 280 ± 8.4 kg, during 112 days. After slaughter and carcass cooling, the following traits were evaluated: carcass yield (CY); rib eye area (REA); cushion thickness (CT); fat thickness (FT); carcass length (CL) and leg length (LL); muscle, bone and fat percentages. From Longissimus dorsi muscle samples, the following traits were evaluated: proximate composition; pH; water loss; shear force (SF); sarcomere length (SL); myofibril fragmentation index (MFI). The data were submitted to analysis of variance and the means were compared by Tukey’s test at 5% significance. The LR crossbreed showed the best carcass and meat characteristics, with CY=54.72%, CT=27.87 cm, FT=4.53 cm, REA=63.65 cm², lean meat=64.58%, water loss=26.63%, pH=5.72; SF=2.49 kg, SL=1.91 µm and MFI=83.59.