Table 1.
Effects of visual marbling level (VML), categorized as low (LM, score 1–2), moderate (MM, score 3–4), and high (HM, score 5–6) according to the US National Pork Board [23] standard, on physicochemical quality traits of pork Longissimus dorsi muscles
| Attributes | VML | SEM | p-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| |||||
| LM (n = 15) | MM (n = 15) | HM (n = 15) | |||
| Moisture (%) | 73.66a | 72.79b | 71.02c | 0.17 | <0.001 |
| Crude fat (%) | 2.55c | 4.03b | 6.11a | 0.14 | <0.001 |
| Ashes (%) | 1.19ab | 1.25a | 1.17b | 0.01 | 0.043 |
| Crude protein (%) | 22.65 | 22.59 | 21.98 | 0.13 | 0.072 |
| pH value | 5.60b | 5.65ab | 5.69a | 0.01 | 0.021 |
| Muscle fiber diameter (μm) | 70.97 | 64.66 | 67.10 | 1.16 | 0.095 |
| Sarcomere length (μm) | 1.79 | 1.80 | 1.73 | 0.02 | 0.246 |
| Total collagen (mg/g) | 3.19 | 3.15 | 3.31 | 0.05 | 0.405 |
| Insoluble collagen (mg/g) | 2.81 | 2.80 | 2.96 | 0.05 | 0.290 |
| Soluble collagen (mg/g) | 0.38 | 0.35 | 0.35 | 0.01 | 0.061 |
| Collagen solubility percentage | 12.01a | 11.33ab | 10.64b | 0.14 | 0.001 |
| Drip loss (%) | 3.45a | 2.88a | 1.93b | 0.18 | 0.005 |
| Thawing loss (%) | 3.67 | 2.89 | 2.83 | 0.17 | 0.088 |
| Cooking loss (% | 22.62a | 20.31b | 19.22b | 0.39 | 0.004 |
| WBSF (kg/cm2) | 4.44 | 4.52 | 4.07 | 0.11 | 0.235 |
| CIE L* or lightness1) | 55.50 | 56.07 | 57.17 | 0.32 | 0.106 |
| CIE a* or redness1) | 8.41 | 8.28 | 8.45 | 0.16 | 0.907 |
| CIE b* or yellowness1) | 15.74b | 15.67b | 16.32a | 0.09 | 0.011 |
SEM, standard error of mean; WBSF, Warner-Bratzler shear force.
1)
Color measurement was performed at 24 h-bloom time in an opened-top display case at 3.3°C±0.6°C.
a–c
Means in a row with different letters are significantly different (p<0.05).