Breed and Age Effects on Quality Traits of Pakistani Buffalo Beef
Breed and Age Effects on Quality Traits of Pakistani Buffalo Beef
Arif Khan, Abdur Rahman, Shoail Akhtar, Siraj Uddin, Zahid Ullah and Nazir Ahmad
ABSTRACT
Pakistani buffaloes beef were analyzed for various quality characteristics in relation to breed and age. A total of one hundred and eight beef samples from Longissimus dorsi muscle were collected from three age groups (i.e. group 1= 12-18 monts, 2 =18.1-36.0 months and 3= > 36 months) of Kundi and Nili Ravi breeds of buffalo. Samples were obtained from freshly preselected slaughtered buffaloes at local municipal abattoir Peshawar. The effect of breed and animal age on marbling, water holding capacity (WHC) and tenderness and sarcomere lenth of the two buffalo breed beef samples were investigated. A two x three factorial design was used to analyze the beef quality characteristic data in Genstat software. Breed and animal age had significant and their interaction has significant (P < 0.05) effects on marbling. Animal age group and their (breed x age) interaction had significant effect on the Water holding capacity (WHC). Breed effect on WHC was found not significant at P 0.05. WHC increased significantly (P < 0.05) with increase in age of the buffaloes however Nili Ravi had slightly higher mean WHC relationship to Kundi, however, breed effects were not significant (P > 0.05). Tenderness in the buffalo beef samples were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by animal age and their breed X age interaction. However the breed had no significant (P > 0.05) effect on tenderness. In both breeds, the sarcomere lengths (SL) were significantly decreased (P < 0.05) by animal age and age x breed interaction. Nevertheless breed shows no significant (P > 0.05) effect on SL. Kundi showed low mean (1.79±0.033µm) SL compared to Nili Ravi (1.81±0.039µm). It was concluded that beef from Kundi buffalo is relatively better in beef quality characteristics (Marbling, Water holding capacity, Sarcomere length, and Tenderness) than Nili Ravi buffalo. Kundi buffalo may be further selected for improvement in beef quality traits and could be a potential source of quality beef for export in future.
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