Meat Tenderness of Thai Native Cattle from Different Area of Thailand

摘要

This study was conducted to determine the effects of cattle groups and ageing periods on meat quality. Four groups of Thai native bulls were 1) Tak (n = 10, TNT), 2) Ubonratchathani (n = 10, TNU), 3) Kanchanaburi (n = 8, TNK) and 4) Khao Lamphun (n = 8, KLP). The Thai native cattle were naturally raised under free range grazing except KLP cattle were stall-fed with pangola grass. Longissimus muscle samples were excised from carcasses at 6th-12th interface into 4 sections and aged at 2 - 4 °C for 2,1, 14 and 21 d post-mortem. Warner Bratzler Shear force (WBSF), calpastatin protein (CAST) and soluble collagen (SC) were evaluated at each ageing period. The results showed that TNT cattle was the most tender and had the lowest CAST among TNU, KLP and TNK, respectively, contrasted to the highest amount of SC. Western blot analysis of Troponin-T (Tn-T) indicated that TNK cattle had the highest intensities bands of Tn-T products (28-30 kDa) than others. The study also showed that while post-mortem ageing time increased, the WBSF value and CAST decreased in all cattle groups. However, the SC and Tn-T products were increased during storage caused by proteolytic enzyme.