Table 4.
Effects of dietary energy and slaughter age on meat quality in longissimus dorsi of Holstein-Friesians bulls.
| Item 1 | LE | ME | HE | SEM | p-Value 2 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 23 | 26 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 20 | 23 | 26 | Diet | Age | Diet × Age | ||
| pH | 5.59 | 5.69 | 5.55 | 5.65 | 5.56 | 5.61 | 5.66 | 5.65 | 5.71 | 0.06 | 0.430 | 0.987 | 0.478 |
| DM 3 (%) | 26.6 ab | 26.1 a | 26.5 ab | 26.7 ab | 27.1 ab | 28.0 b | 26.7 ab | 27.0 ab | 31.1 c | 0.45 | 0.001 | <0.001 | 0.002 |
| Cooking loss (%) | 31.2 | 31.5 | 31.3 | 29.5 | 29.3 | 29.4 | 30.1 | 30.5 | 28.7 | 2.03 | 0.533 | 0.936 | 0.993 |
| Pressing loss (%) | 66.6 | 66.7 | 66.3 | 66.2 | 67.9 | 68.7 | 67.9 | 68.5 | 68.7 | 1.65 | 0.460 | 0.772 | 0.962 |
| Drip loss (%) | 5.87 | 5.43 | 5.22 | 5.74 | 5.23 | 4.99 | 5.60 | 4.89 | 4.61 | 0.53 | 0.562 | 0.208 | 0.998 |
| WBSF (N) | 57.5 | 50.8 | 49.9 | 59.5 | 56.2 | 49.8 | 61.5 | 52.3 | 55.1 | 4.45 | 0.657 | 0.124 | 0.909 |
| IMF (%) | 4.43 a | 5.13 ab | 5.44 ab | 4.54 a | 5.55 ab | 7.17 c | 4.87 ab | 6.32 bc | 9.24 d | 0.51 | 0.001 | <0.001 | 0.052 |
| CP (%) | 18.9 | 19.3 | 19.5 | 19.1 | 19.5 | 18.7 | 18.7 | 19.0 | 19.5 | 0.28 | 0.793 | 0.300 | 0.333 |
1 LE: low energy; ME: medium energy; HE: high energy. 20, 23 and 26 represent bulls slaughtered at 20, 23 and 26 months of age, respectively. 2 p-value: a–d Least squares means within a row lacking a common superscript differ (p < 0.05) due to dietary energy × slaughter age interaction. 3 DM: dry mater; WBSF: Warner-Bratzler shear force; IMF: intramuscular fat; CP: crude protein.