Effects of a compensatory growth strategy on sensory and physical properties of meat from young bulls

Beef-on-dairy: Meat quality of veal and prediction of intramuscular fat using the Q-FOM™ Beef camera at the 5th-6th thoracic vertebra

This study aims to describe the meat quality of young Holstein (HOL) beef-on-dairy heifers and bulls sired by Angus (ANG, n = 109), Charolais (CHA, n = 101) and Danish Blue (DBL, n = 127), and to investigate the performance of the handheld vision-based Q-FOM™ Beef camera in predicting the intramuscular fat concentration (IMF%) in M. longissimus thoracis from carcasses quartered at the 5th-6th thoracic vertebra. The results showed significant differences between crossbreeds and sexes on carcass characteristics and meat quality. DBL × HOL had the highest EUROP conformation scores, whereas ANG × HOL had darker meat with higher IMF% (3.52%) compared to CHA × HOL (2.99%) and DBL × HOL (2.51%). Bulls had higher EUROP conformation scores than heifers, and heifers had higher IMF% (3.70%) than bulls (2.31%). These findings indicate the potential for producing high-quality meat from beef-on-dairy heifers and ANG bulls. The IMF% prediction model for Q-FOM performed well with R2 = 0.91 and root mean squared error of cross validation, RMSECV = 1.33%. The performance of the prediction model on the beef-on-dairy veal subsample ranging from 0.9 to 7.4% IMF had lower accuracy (R2 = 0.48) and the prediction error (RMSEveal) was 1.00%. When grouping beef-on-dairy veal carcasses into three IMF% classes (2.5% IMF bins), 62.6% of the carcasses were accurately predicted. Furthermore, Q-FOM IMF% predictions and chemically determined IMF% were similar for each combination of sex and crossbreed, revealing a potential of Q-FOM IMF% predictions to be used in breeding, when aiming for higher meat quality.

Transcriptome Analysis of Compensatory Growth and Meat Quality Alteration after Varied Restricted Feeding Conditions in Beef Cattle

Compensatory growth (CG) is a physiological response that accelerates growth following a period of nutrient limitation, with the potential to improve growth efficiency and meat quality in cattle. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, 60 Huaxi cattle were divided into one ad libitum feeding (ALF) group and two restricted feeding groups (75% restricted, RF75; 50% restricted, RF50) undergoing a short-term restriction period followed by evaluation of CG. Detailed comparisons of growth performance during the experimental period, as well as carcass and meat quality traits, were conducted, complemented by a comprehensive transcriptome analysis of the longissimus dorsi muscle using differential expression analysis, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA), gene set variation analysis (GSVA), and weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA). The results showed that irrespective of the restriction degree, the restricted animals exhibited CG, achieving final body weights comparable to the ALF group. Compensating animals showed differences in meat quality traits, such as pH, cooking loss, and fat content, compared to the ALF group. Transcriptomic analysis revealed 57 genes and 31 pathways differentially regulated during CG, covering immune response, acid-lipid metabolism, and protein synthesis. Notably, complement-coagulation-fibrinolytic system synergy was identified as potentially responsible for meat quality optimization in RF75. This study provides novel and valuable genetic insights into the regulatory mechanisms of CG in beef cattle.

Comparison of Growth Performance, Immunity, Antioxidant Capacity, and Liver Transcriptome of Calves between Whole Milk and Plant Protein-Based Milk Replacer under the Same Energy and Protein Levels

High-cost milk proteins necessitate cheaper, effective milk replacer alternatives, such as plant proteins. To examine plant protein-based milk replacer’s impact on growth performance, serum immune and antioxidant indicators, and liver transcriptome profiles in suckling calves. We assigned 28 newborn Holstein calves (41.60 ± 3.67 kg of body weight at birth) to milk (M) or milk replacer (MR) and starter diets pre-weaning (0–70 d of age) but with the same starter diet post-weaning (71–98 d of age). During the pre-weaning period, compared with the M group, MR group had significantly lower body weight, withers height, heart girth, average daily gain, feed efficiency, serum immunoglobulin (Ig) M concentration, superoxide dismutase concentration, and total antioxidant capacity; whereas they had significantly higher serum aspartate aminotransferase concentration. During the post-weaning period, MR group presented significantly higher average daily gain, alanine transaminase, aspartate aminotransferase, and malonaldehyde concentrations; whereas they had significantly lower serum IgA and IgM concentrations than the M group. Transcriptome analysis revealed 1, 120 and 293 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; MR vs. M group) in the calves from pre- and post-weaning periods, respectively. The DEGs related to xenobiotic and lipid metabolism and those related to energy metabolism, immune function, and mineral metabolism were up- and downregulated, respectively, during the pre-weaning period; during the post-weaning period, the DEGs related to osteoclast differentiation and metabolic pathways showed difference. In this study, compared with M group, MR group had the same growth performance during the overall experimental period; however, MR affected the hepatic metabolism, immune, and antioxidant function of calves. These observations can facilitate future studies on milk replacers.

Reproductive performance and milk production of Central Highland and Boer x Central Highland goats

This study was conducted to evaluate the reproductive performance and milk production potential of Central Highland and Boer x Central Highland goats under semi-intensive management. Data were collected from 2009 till 2018 in the Sirinka goat breeding station. A general linear model procedure of the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was used to analyze the data. The overall least-squares mean litter size at birth (LSB), litter size at weaning (LSW), total litter weight at birth, total litter weight at weaning and gestation length (GL) were 1.6 ± 0.02 kids, 1.4 ± 0.02 kids, 3.9 ± 0.05 kg, 13.6 ± 0.35 kg and 148.0 ± 0.33 days, respectively. The LSB, LSW and GL did not differ between Central Highland and their F1 and F2 crossbred dams. However, F2 dams produce the lightest kid at birth and weaning. Besides, birth type, season, year and parity were important sources of variation for most of the reproductive traits. The least-squares mean for daily milk yield (DMY), lactation milk yield (LMY) and lactation length (LL) were 0.34 ± 0.02 kg, 39.16 ± 3.00 kg and 104.2 ± 4.45 days, respectively. The DMY and LMY of Boer x Central Highland goats were higher than pure Central Highland goats by 46.4% and 27.2%, respectively. However, the LL for both genotypes was found to be similar (P > 0.05). Dams kidding during the short rainy season produce more milk than kidding during dry and main rainy seasons. Boer x Central Highland goats produce more milk than pure Central Highland goats. However, using Boer crossbred dams did not reveal any advantage over the base Central Highland dams in terms of reproductive performance. Therefore, using Central Highland goat as a dam line, improving the management and integration of crossbreeding with selection could be an ideal option to improve the overall productivity of goats.

Feeding, Muscle and Packaging Effects on Meat Quality and Consumer Acceptability of Avileña-Negra Ibérica Beef

In order to achieve an attractive and differentiated product for the consumer and to optimize and to maximize profitability for the farmers within the EU Protected Geographical Indication "Carne de Ávila", 24 yearling males of Avileña-Negra Ibérica breed were used to evaluate the effect of 2 feeding systems, concentrate (CON) and maize silage (SIL), and 2 packaging systems, vacuum (VAC) and modified atmosphere (MAP), on fatty acid composition, proximate analysis, water holding capacity and consumer acceptability of meat in 2 muscles: Longissimus thoracis (LT) and Semitendinosus (ST). Animals fed with concentrate showed higher carcass weight. However, feeding did not affect the proximate analysis of the meat. The use of maize silage improved the amount of conjugated linoleic acid and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and the relation n-6 PUFA/n-3 PUFA. In LT muscle, feeding influenced texture, samples from SIL being more tender. The VAC packaging showed higher cooking losses than MAP in both muscles. Aging increased tenderness and cooking losses but decreased thawing losses. LT samples from SIL feeding were better accepted by consumers and VAC packaging showed higher scores than MAP. We can conclude that the use of maize silage could be an alternative feeding for this type of animals improving some aspects of the quality of the meat.

Aggregation of Omic Data and Secretome Prediction Enable the Discovery of Candidate Plasma Biomarkers for Beef Tenderness

Beef quality is a complex phenotype that can be evaluated only after animal slaughtering. Previous research has investigated the potential of genetic markers or muscle-derived proteins to assess beef tenderness. Thus, the use of low-invasive biomarkers in living animals is an issue for the beef sector. We hypothesized that publicly available data may help us discovering candidate plasma biomarkers. Thanks to a review of the literature, we built a corpus of articles on beef tenderness. Following data collection, aggregation, and computational reconstruction of the muscle secretome, the putative plasma proteins were searched by comparison with a bovine plasma proteome atlas and submitted to mining of biological information. Of the 44 publications included in the study, 469 unique gene names were extracted for aggregation. Seventy-one proteins putatively released in the plasma were revealed. Among them 13 proteins were predicted to be secreted in plasma, 44 proteins as hypothetically secreted in plasma, and 14 additional candidate proteins were detected thanks to network analysis. Among these 71 proteins, 24 were included in tenderness quantitative trait loci. The in-silico workflow enabled the discovery of candidate plasma biomarkers for beef tenderness from reconstruction of the secretome, to be examined in the cattle plasma proteome.

Beef palatability and its relationship with protein degradation and muscle fibre type profile in longissimus thoracis in Alentejana breed from divergent growth pathways

The traditional beef production in the South of Portugal is based on a discontinuous growth (DG) system that requires lower external inputs and could enhance meat quality and financial returns to cattle producers. This system allows farmers to take advantage of the bull's compensatory growth when the pasture is abundant and finishes the cattle on concentrates for 2 to 3 months before slaughter. The fast gain rate before slaughter could be a valuable strategy to improve tenderness and to reduce its inconsistency in beef production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of production system (continuous growth (CG) v. DG) on longissimus thoracis muscle properties from Alentejana bulls. In total, 40 Alentejana male calves were allocated to two distinct feeding regimes: in the CG system, animals were fed concentrate plus hay and slaughtered at 18 months of age, whereas in the DG system, animals were fed on hay until 15 months of age and then fed the same diet provided to the CG group until 24 months of age. The DG system had a positive impact on meat tenderness (P<0.001) and global acceptability (P<0.001). DG bulls had greater fibre cross-sectional area (CSA) of glycolytic fibres (P<0.05) and relative area of the muscle (RA) occupied by type IIX fibres (P<0.01) and greater levels of α-actinin (P<0.05) and myosin light chain 2 (P<0.01) proteins, and pH24h (P<0.01) than CG bulls. The latter had greater CSA of type I (P<0.05) and type IIA (P<0.01) and greater RA of type IIA (P<0.05) and oxidative (P<0.05) than CG bulls. The compensatory growth production system had a positive impact on meat tenderness and global acceptability, overcoming the negative effects of slaughter of the bulls at a later age. The DG beef system could be a worthwhile strategy of beef production in Mediterranean areas due to the low-quality pasture in summer.

Repercussions of growth path on carcass characteristics, meat colour and shear force in Alentejana bulls

The aim of this study was to evaluate the carcass and meat characteristics of eight muscles from bulls with distinct growth paths. A total of 40 Alentejana male calves were allocated to two distinct feeding regimes. In the continuous growth (CG) system, the animals were fed concentrates plus hay and were slaughtered at 18 months of age. On the other hand, in the discontinuous growth (DG) system, the animals were fed hay until 15 months of age; the cattle were then fed the same diet provided to the CG group from 15 to 24 months of age. The DG reduced hot carcass weight, fatness and dressing %, but the proportions of fat, bone and muscle tissues in the leg were not affected. In contrast, there was a positive impact of compensatory growth on supraspinatus, triceps brachii, semitendinosus, biceps femoris muscle tenderness, overcoming the negative effects of age at slaughter. The reasons for such improvement in meat tenderness were not related to intra-muscular fat content or myofibrillar protein degradation values. An association between tenderness and muscle collagen properties was not established. The results indicate that the compensatory growth has a muscle-dependent effect.

Compensatory growth response as a strategy to enhance tenderness in entire male and female pork M. longissimus thoracis

The effects of restrictive feeding strategies aimed at promoting a compensatory growth response were investigated with respect to tenderness improvement in pork M. longissimus thoracis. Compensatory growth response is defined by increased weight in pigs fed ad libitum after a period with restricted feeding compared to pigs fed ad libitum the entire fattening period. Specifically, the aim was to study the sensory textural characteristics after female and entire male pigs have been exposed to restrictions in either energy, protein or both in specific growth periods. It was found that textural differences were caused by feeding strategies and not related to variation in intramuscular fat, which did not vary significantly between genders. The female pigs demonstrated compensatory growth response and the texture was significantly (P<0.001) improved by low dietary level of energy from day 50 to 90 and normal dietary level of protein during the entire feeding period. For the entire male pigs, low level of protein in the late feeding period significantly (P<0.05) improved the texture. Also, low level of protein and normal level of energy in the early feeding period resulted in improved tenderness. However, these texture improvements were deemed not to be an effect of compensatory growth since the entire male pigs did not compensate for the feeding restriction in the early feeding period. The tenderness enhancement for the entire male pigs compromised the production results in terms of 7-15% lower carcass weight.

A sensory description of boar taint and the effects of crude and dried chicory roots (Cichorium intybus L.) and inulin feeding in male and female pork

Sensory profiling studies were carried out to evaluate the effects of chicory root (Cichorium intybus L.) and inulin bioactive feeding with respect to reducing the 'off-flavour' boar taint in intact male and female pork Longissimus dorsi and Psoas major. Feeding treatments significantly reduced perceived sensory boar taint in the cooked pork meat of intact males in both muscles. There were also indications that crude chicory was also effective in taint descriptor reduction in female pork, however not to the same systematic level as in male animals. Chemical measurements for skatole and androstenone were highly predictive of specific sensory descriptors of boar taint reduction. Feeding of crude, dried chicory and inulin were also determined not to impart negative sensory characteristics upon boar taint reduction. Chicory feeding therefore must be considered to have the potential for utilisation as part of a strategy for boar taint reduction in intact male pork.