Table 4.

Meat quality of beef heifers fed 10% barley straw (BS) or 19% alfalfa hay (AH)

	Diet
Item	BS	AH	SEM	P-value
LM
pH	5.47	5.46	0.033	0.868
Color
Lightness (L*)	36.5	35.4	1.25	0.561
Redness (a*)	14.4	15.0	0.45	0.375
Yellowness (b*)	12.2	12.3	0.31	0.738
Chroma	18.8	19.4	0.35	0.311
Hue angle	0.70	0.69	0.020	0.605
Sixth rib dissection, %
Fat	23.5	21.1	1.42	0.326
Lean	53.8	56.9	3.25	0.555
Bone	22.7	22.0	1.96	0.817
Meat composition
Water, %	71.9	71.3	0.29	0.180
Protein, %	22.6	22.4	0.19	0.550
Collagen, %	1.34	1.42	0.040	0.189
Intramuscular fat, %	4.34	5.01	0.386	0.235
Cholesterol, mg/100 g	61.6	61.2	2.63	0.920