Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Characteristics of Major Camel Muscles

An experiment was performed to assess physical and chemical properties of ten major muscles of Arabian one‐humped camel. Eight young (8‐10 months) Saudi Najdi camels were used for this purpose. The animals were raised under similar feeding regimen and husbandry practices for 60 days. After that, they were slaughtered, dressed and kept for 24 hrs at 4º C. Then, each carcass was split into two halves and twelve major muscles were removed from the right side of the carcass. These are Semitendinosus, Rectus femoris, Biceps femoris, Infraspinatus, Gluteus medius, Semimembranosus, Supraspinatus, Psoas major, Longissimus lumborum and Longissimus thoracis . The separated muscles were cut into steaks of 2.5 cm, packaged under vacuum and stored at – 10º C for later analysis. These included pH , color, cooking loss (CL), shear force (SF), and myofibril fragmentation index (MFI). The results showed that Psoas major and Supraspinatus had the lowest SF values (P< 0.05), while Semitendonosus had the highest value. Gluteus medius and Longissimus thoracis obtained the highest MFI values ( P< 0.05), contrary, Rectus femoris had the lowest value. It is observed that Semitendonosus and Longissimus thoracis had the highest lightness value (L * ), whereas Infraspinatus had the lowest. On the other hand, Semitendonosus and Supraspinatus had the highest numerical redness value (a * ), while Rectus femoris had the lowest value. The results obtained out of this study shed light on the variation in some chemical and physical properties of camel muscles which in turn lay a basis for further investigations to improve quality characteristics of camel meat. Physical and chemical characteristics of ten major camel musclesMuscle SF (kg) MFI CL%pHL* a* b*Semitendinosus 5.4 a 34.52 bcd 42.61 a 5.23 cd 37.48 a 16.67 ab 5.45 aRectus femoris 5.06 ab 26.14 d 34.53 bc 5.42 a 35.03 bcd 4.32 cd 4.32 cdGluteun medius 4.88 ab 56.40 ac 40.45 ab 4.26 ac 32.96 ef 15.90 abc 5.03 bcBiceps femoris 4.81 ab 41.50 abcd 36.03 abc 5.19 c 33.11d ef 14.39 cd 4.88 bcdLongissimus lumborum 4.77 ab 36.72 bcd 36.49 abc 5.26 bc 35.78 ab 14.48 cd 4.66 bedLongissimus thoracis 4.67 abc 51.10 ab 41.26 ab 5.22 cd 36.23 ab 14.15 cd 4.48 cdInfraspinatus 4.3 c 44.62 abcd 39.72 abc 5.45 ab 32.16 f 15.41 bd 4.55 cdSemimembranosus 3.81 cd 37.5 abcd 33.69 bc 5.35 ab 34.41 bcde 14.16 cd 5.32 bSupraspinatus 3.56 d 46.52 abc 38.81 abc 5.43 a 33.33 cdef 17.52 a 5.03 bcPsoas major 3.41 d 48.77 abc 37.13 abc 5.22 cd 35.19 bd 15.58 bc 4.96 bedabcdef Means in the same column followed by different subscripts are significantly different at P < 0.05