Influence of cattle category and slaughter age on Charolais-breed carcase and meat traits

Abstract

The beef consumed worldwide comes from different categories of cattle slaughtered at different ages. The aim of this work was to study the effects of the cattle category (young bulls, heifers, cull cows) and slaughter age on carcase and meat traits, using data on 721 Charolais cattle. At 24h post-mortem in slaughterhouse, 14 carcase traits were measured on each carcase. Then, 2 ribs were collected and aged 14 days. Ten measurements were performed on raw meat (longissimus or rhomboideus muscles) and ten others on longissimus cooked meat. Our results showed that young bulls produced carcases with higher conformation scores, lower fat and meat that had less juiciness, and flavour intensity compared to heifers and cull cows. The carcase traits were more sensitive to variation in the slaughter age than in meat traits. Heifers and cull cows slaughtered at an older age produced heavier carcases. Cull cows slaughtered at above 6 years of age produced carcases with darker muscle and yellower fat. Slaughter age had no effect on the sensory descriptors of cooked meat from all three cattle categories. Heifers slaughtered at earlier than 32 months or later than 36 months produced carcases and meat with similar traits, except for the carcase weight. For cull cows over 6 years old, there was no effect of age at slaughter age on carcase and meat traits. Whatever the cattle category, the slaughter age impacted weakly the traits of raw and cooked meat. Meat from heifers was the most appreciated by trained panellists.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Cooked meat from heifers was better appreciated than cooked meat from young bulls or cull cows.

• In young bulls, slaughter age had no effect on any carcase and meat traits other than intermuscular fat assessed at the 6th rib.

• In cull cows, slaughter age affected mostly carcase traits and weakly meat traits.

Keywords:

• Beef quality
• carcase quality
• sensory descriptors
• slaughter age

Acknowledgments

The authors would first like to thank the staff of the four breeding cooperatives (FEDER, SICABA, SICAGIEB and SICAREV) for helping us to select the cattle producers and the staff of the five slaughterhouses (Puigrenier, SICABA, SICAREV, SOCOPA, and Viandes de Bresse) for the achievement of the measure on carcasses and the meat sampling. The authors thank also the INRAE staff for the meat samples collection and transport, for the meat sample preparation and rheological analyses (shear force), and VetAgro Sup staff for colour, sensorial and rheological (texture) analyses. Finally, the authors would like thank the other partners implicated in the development of the ProBA (produce suckler cattle delivering the goods of the slaughterers in the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) project: ARIA Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, la Chambre Régionale d’Agriculture Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and La Cooperation Agricole Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

Authors’ Contributions

Julien Soulat: Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing – review & Editing, Visualisation, Project administration

Brigitte Picard: Conceptualisation, Writing – review & Editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition

Valérie Monteils: Conceptualisation, Writing – review & Editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition

Disclosure statement

All authors report no conflicts of interests.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [VM], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed by the French ministry of agriculture and food, the region Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (convention Massif central) and the French government IDEX-ISITE initiative 16-IDEX-0001 (CAP 20-25).