Table 3.
Effect of the production systems (organic grazing, OG; organic concentrate, OC and conventional concentrate, CC) and ageing time (T0, T7, T14, T21: 0, 7, 14, and 21 days, respectively) on histological parameters of Longissimus thoracis from calves of the Retinta breed.
| Production System (PS) | Ageing Time (A) | Effects | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OG | OC | CC | T0 | T7 | T14 | T21 | SEM | PS | A | PS*A | |
| Sarcomere length (μm) | 2.31 b | 2.89 a | 2.98 a | 1.92 d | 2.14 c | 3.02 b | 3.40 a | 0.026 | *** | *** | *** |
| Cross-section Area (μm2) | 1291.24 a | 1177.75 b | 921.61 c | 1217.27 a | 1108.32 b | 1035.07 b,c | 978.33 c | 13.525 | *** | *** | *** |
*** p ≤ 0.001; A: ageing time; PS: production systems; PS*A: interaction between A and PS; SEM. standard error of the mean. Values with the same letters (a, b, c, d) indicate homogeneous subsets for p = 0.05 according to Tukey’s HSD test. OG: organic grazing; OC: organic concentrate; CC: conventional concentrate.