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Is meat quality of forage‐fed steers comparable to the meat quality of conventional beef from concentrate‐fed bulls?
Author(s) -
Blanco Mireia,
Casasús Isabel,
Ripoll Guillermo,
Albertí Pere,
Panea Begoña,
Joy Margalida
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of the science of food and agriculture
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1097-0010
pISSN - 0022-5142
DOI - 10.1002/jsfa.8371
Subject(s) - conjugated linoleic acid , beef cattle , tenderness , hay , forage , polyunsaturated fatty acid , grazing , food science , lightness , cattle feeding , zoology , linoleic acid , biology , fatty acid , agronomy , dairy cattle , biochemistry , physics , optics
Abstract BACKGROUND 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