Pakistan has an agricultural economy in which livestock has a major role. Meat industry in Pakistan is a sub-sector of livestock. Meat from Pakistan is exported to other countries in the form of whole carcass and primal meat cuts. Little work has been reported so far regarding the effect of age on meat quality, grading and meat cuts standardization of indigenous, crossbred cattle and buffalo of Pakistan. The present study was conducted at the Department of Meat Science and Technology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. In the first experiment samples of meat cuts from total 48 male cattle and buffalo, 12 from 18 months and 12 from 26 months of age groups were taken. The animals were slaughtered in the experimental unit of the department. The color parameters of steaks of different meat cuts were measured with the help of Minolta chroma meter. Steaks were vacuumed packed in polyethylene bagsand cooked in water bath until all the steaks attained the core temperature of 72°C. Cooking loss was calculated in percentage. 1cm2strips of meat were obtained from each sample of different meat cuts parallel to the muscle fibers and were sheared under the 'V-Slot' blade of Texture Analyzer to obtain shear force values which indicated the tenderness of different meat cuts.The second experiment was done on indigenous (Sahiwal) and crossbred (Friesian × Sahiwal) cattle which were brought out from different farms of Punjab and slaughtered in the experimental unit of the department. Total 24 cattle, 12 indigenous (Sahiwal) and 12 crossbred (Friesian × Sahiwal) cattle of 24 months of age were selected for the experiment. Carcass weight and offal’s weight were taken after slaughtering of animals. Carcass and meat cuts grading were done according to "EUROP" and Meat Standard Australia (MSA) respectively. All the data were analyzed by using complete randomized design. The data were analyzed byt-test with the help of SAS (9.1). P ≤ 0.05 were considered significant. The results of this study showed that the color of tenderloin, cube roll and silver side were lighter in 18
months cattle than 26 months. Redness (a*), yellowness (b*), hue angle (h) and chroma (c) were non-significant between both age groups. Only rump showed a significance difference in cooking loss. WBSF values of rump, round, topside and silver side were lower in 18 months cattle than 26 months of age. TheL* value of tenderloin was higher in 18 months buffalo than 26 months. The a* values of round and eye of silverside were higher at 18 months whereas, a* values of sirloin, cube roll and blade were lower at 18 months of age. The b* values of cube roll and blade were lower at 18 months of age. The C* values of rump and cube roll were lower at 18 months while C* values of the eye of silverside were higher at 18 months than 26 months of age. The hue angles of cube roll, round, silverside and the blade were lower 18 months. The cooking loss (%) of tenderloin, cube roll and eye of silver side was higher at 18 months of age. The WBSF values of tenderloin and rump were lower 18 months of age. Between 18 months cattle and buffalo, the values of L*, a*, b*, C* and hue angles of most of the meat cuts were higher in cattle than buffalo. Cooking loss (%) of tenderloin and sirloin were lower in cattle. WBSF values of tenderloin, cube roll and blade were significantly lower in cattle than buffalo. Similarly, between 26 months cattle and buffalo the values of L*, a*, b*, C* and hue angles of most of the meat cuts were higher in cattle than buffalo. The WBSF values of tenderloin, blade and eye of silverside were lower in cattle and WBSF values of round, topside and silverside were higher in cattle than buffalo.There was no significant difference in carcass conformation and marbling score. Indigenous breed showed more carcass surface fat than crossbred. Live animal weight, hot carcass weight, weight of offals and weights of meat cuts percentages (Chuck, blade, brisket, cube roll, boneless ribs, fore shin, flank, tenderloin, sirloin, rump, round, topside, silverside hind shin) were non-significant between indigenous and crossbred cattle.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the findings of this study, it can be concluded from this study that:
1. Meat quality, especially tenderness of most of the meat cuts at the age of 26 months of cattle and buffalo is comparable to the tenderness at the age of 18 months, thus animals should raise at least up to two years of age which will increase the carcass yield and dressing percentage than at 18 months of age without affecting the tenderness.
2. Meat quality, especially tenderness of cattle and buffalo is almost comparable at the same age groups. Thus buffalo meat can be used as the replacement of beef.
3. At the same age group, indigenous and crossbred cattle have same conformation, dressing (%) and meat cuts (%).