Table 5.
Comparison of meat pH on chemical composition and texture of meat of the three pH clusters identified by the k-means algorithm. The percentage of kids per cluster is between brackets.
| Variables | CL1 (51.2%) |
CL2 (36.6%) |
CL3 (12.2%) |
s.e. | Sig. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of MR kids | 54.4 | 40.5 | 76.7 | 0.001 | |
| pH | 5.6 c | 5.8 b | 6.2 a | 0.020 | <0.001 |
| Chemical composition | |||||
| Moisture, % | 75.82 | 75.61 | 75.38 | 0.310 | 0.689 |
| Intramuscular fat, % | 2.59 a | 1.96 b | 2.12 ab | 0.196 | 0.015 |
| Crude protein, % | 20.42 b | 21.36 b | 22.34 a | 0.381 | 0.010 |
| Ash, % | 1.11 | 1.09 | 1.10 | 0.017 | 0.380 |
| NPN, mg/g | 3.08 a | 2.48 b | 2.89 ab | 0.223 | 0.041 |
| AN, mg/g | 0.91 | 0.97 | 0.85 | 0.065 | 0.397 |
| TPA raw meat | |||||
| Hardness, N | 15.47 | 16.15 | 17.94 | 1.023 | 0.390 |
| Adhesiveness,-N·s | 0.38 a | 0.20 b | 0.30 ab | 0.037 | <0.001 |
| Springiness, cm | 0.88 b | 0.86 c | 0.91 a | 0.009 | 0.001 |
| Cohesiveness | 0.43 b | 0.46 a | 0.46 a | 0.007 | 0.005 |
| Chewiness, J·10−2 | 5.86 b | 6.29 b | 7.60 a | 0.371 | 0.029 |
| Resilience | 0.21 b | 0.24 a | 0.26 a | 0.006 | <0.001 |
| TPA cooked meat | |||||
| Hardness, N | 13.79 a | 9.53 b | 9.13 b | 0.753 | <0.001 |
| Adhesiveness,-N·s | 0.08 a | 0.02 b | 0.02 b | 0.009 | <0.001 |
| Springiness, cm | 0.80 b | 0.86 a | 0.90 a | 0.012 | <0.001 |
| Cohesiveness | 0.66 b | 0.72 a | 0.72 a | 0.010 | <0.001 |
| Chewiness, J·10−2 | 6.40 | 5.99 | 6.14 | 0.296 | 0.466 |
| Resilience | 0.26 | 0.29 | 0.34 | 0.047 | 0.634 |
| Warner-Bratzler | |||||
| Max. Stress, N/cm2 | 38.4 a | 34.0 b | 27.0 c | 1.284 | <0.001 |
NPN, non-protein nitrogen in mg/g fresh meat; AN, amino acid nitrogen in mg AN/g fresh meat; MR, milk replacer; s.e., standard error; Sig, signification of the effect. Different superscripts in the same row indicate significant differences (p < 0.05).