Is meat quality of forage-fed steers comparable to the meat quality of conventional beef from concentrate-fed bulls?

• Autores: Mireia Blanco Alibés, Isabel Casasús Pueyo, Guillermo Ripoll García, Pere Albertí Lasalle, Begoña Panea Doblado, Margalida Joy Torrens
• Localización: Journal of the science of food and agriculture, ISSN 0022-5142, Vol. 97, Nº 14, 2017, págs. 4943-4952
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Replacing concentrates with forages in the diet of finishing cattle to satisfy societal demands and for economic reasons is a target for beef farmers, but this change may affect meat acceptance. In the Mediterranean area, young bulls are usually finished on concentrates (Conventional beef). Alternatively, steers can be finished on grass with supplements (G-supp); however, if carcasses are too lean, meat quality may be negatively affected. To increase fat deposition, grazing steers were finished on a total mixed ration composed of alfalfa hay and corn (TMR). Thus the objective of the study was to compare the quality of Longissimus muscle of the three systems.; Results: Conventional beef had low yellowness and similar lightness and redness values compared with the beef from the forage-based systems, which differed slightly. The meat of the G-supp and TMR steers had higher conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and total n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) contents and lower n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (more appropriate from a human health point of view) but was tougher than the Conventional beef.; Conclusion: The Conventional beef was better accepted by consumers than the beef from both forage-based systems because it was the most tender. Thus tenderness of meat from forage-fed steers should be improved to ensure consumer acceptance. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.; © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry.