Effects of Selection for Low Residual Feed Intake on Meat Quality of Major Muscles from Angus, Charolais and Kinsella Composite Cattle

• Author / Creator

  Jiu, Zhiqiang

• Residual feed intake (RFI) is a measure of animal feeding efficiency. Selection of high feed efficient cattle using RFI does not affect production performance; low RFI animals consume less feed to reach a similar body weight gain as high RFI animals and thus are considered as feed efficient cattle. However, reducing production costs by selecting low RFI cattle will be beneficial only if beef quality of efficient animals is not adversely affected. Moreover, the response of different beef breeds or crossbred cattle to RFI selection may not be consistent. Therefore, the main objective of this research was to determine the effects of breed and RFI on carcass quality, objective meat quality and sensory palatability of five major beef muscles: m.longissimus lumborum (LL), m.longissimus thoracis (LT), m.triceps brachii (TB), m.semimembranosus (SM) and m.gluteus medius (GM). Twelve high and twelve low feed efficient Angus, Charolais and Kinsella Composite cattle were selected for this study. RFI selection had limited influence on performance traits, carcass quality, instrumental meat quality, sensory palatability assessed by a trained panel and a consumer panel, with some exceptions. RFI selection for feed efficient animals negatively affected consumer acceptability of ribeye steaks from Angus and Kinsella Composite and sensory quality of TB for all breeds. Moreover, the interaction between breed, RFI and postmortem aging showed that post-mortem aging did not improve tenderness of ribeye steaks from low RFI animals of any breed, thus breeding for feed efficient animals using RFI selection may affect meat quality and consumer preference of steaks from some beef muscles. Breed significantly affected most traits assessed in this study; steaks from Angus had better meat sensory quality assessed by both trained and consumer panels, while Charolais had better yield quality with greater hot carcass weight, carcass ribeye area and lean meat yield. The interaction between breed and RFI selection showed that the effects of RFI on meat quality was not consistent among breeds. Therefore, RFI may be a beneficial tool to reduce feed costs by selecting feed efficient animals, but it had possible adverse influence on quality and consumer preference of meat in some breeds.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Feed efficiency
  • Generalized Procrustes Analysis
  • Consumer sensory analysis
  • Trained panel
  • Meat quality
  • Residual feed intake
  • Preference mapping

• Graduation date

  Fall 2017

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3251G02B

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.