• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1630-1636
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• 2013

An investigation was carried out to assess the carcass characteristics and meat quality aspects of immunocastrated male pigs of medium genetic potential for lean meat deposition in carcass (53 to 55%). When the crossbred Large White x Landrace pigs (n = 45) were 70 days old, they were distributed in a totally randomized design in three treatments (castrated males, females and immunocastrated males) with three replicates of five animals. The pigs were slaughtered when they were 140 days old. Carcass temperature and pH were recorded twice, at 45 min and 24 h after slaughter. The carcasses were evaluated for hot and cold carcass yield, commercial cuts yield, length and depth, back fat thickness, loin eye area and lean meat percentage. The Longissimus dorsi muscle was extracted for analysis of color ($L^*$, $a^*$, $b^*$), exudate loss, cooking loss and centesimal and sensorial analysis of the meat. There were no significant differences for the evaluated parameters between castrated males, immunocastrated males and females, except for backfat thickness between the 7th and 8th thoracic vertebra and the point P2 (lower for immunocastrated males) and carcass temperature at 45 min post slaughter (higher in immunocastrated males), however, this did not interfer with the rate of pH decrease post mortem and the meat quality. The results from this research did not indicate a benefit of immunocastration on carcass characteristics of pigs of medium genetic potential for lean meat deposition in carcass, when compared to surgical castration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.8
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• pp.1171-1176
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• 1999

The precision and reliability of the Computer Image Analysis technique using a desk top computer for extracting information from carcass cross section scans was evaluated by the repeatability (R) and coefficient of variation (CV) for error variance. The 6th and 7th ribs cross section of carcasses from 55 fattened Japanese Black steers were used. The image analysis was conducted using a desk top computer (Macintosh-Apple Vision 1710 Display) connected to a scanner and an image capture camera. Two software applications, Adobe Photoshop and Mac Scope were used interchangeably. The information extracted and measured were individual muscle area, circumference length, long and short axes lengths, muscle direction; distance between any two muscle centers of gravity; cross section total area, lean, fat, and bone. The information was extracted after the processes of scanning, digitization, masking, muscle separation, and binarization. When using the Computer Image Analysis technique by desk top computer, proper digitization and selection of scanning resolution are very important in order to obtain accurate information. The R-values for muscle area, circumference, long and axes lengths, and direction ranged from 0.95 to 0.99, whereas those of the distance between any two muscle centers of gravity ranged from 0.96 to 0.99, respectively. For the cross section total area, lean, fat, and bone it ranged from 0.83 to 0.99. Excellent repeatability measurements were observed for muscle direction and distance between any two muscle centers of gravity. The results indicate that the Computer Image Analysis technique using a desk top computer for extracting information from carcass cross section is reliable and has high precision.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.323-328
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• 2001

Meat quality of the domestic pork carcasses(n=330) classified in 3 groups according to the Hunter L values postmortem($\leq$50, 50.1∼55.0 and $\geq$55.1) was investigated. The carcass temperature(3, 5, 10 and 15hr postmortem) and temperature falling rate of postmortem increased as the Hunter L value increased. The pH postmortem(pH$\_$ohr/, pH$\_$24hr/) decreased as the Hunter L value decreased. In physical traits, the water holding capacity(WHC) increased and the purge loss decreased as the Hunter L value increased. However, shear force, cooking loss and fat hardness were not significantly different among different. Hunter L value groups(p<0.05). The meat color indices(CIE L*, a*, b*, chroma, hue and ΔE) increased as Hunter L value increased. The sensory characteristics had no significant difference among different Hunter L value groups(p<0.05). In conclusion, the results suggested that Hunter L values were related with pork quality such as temperature, pH, physical traits and color.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.1218-1223
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• 2003

The effects of type (high and low voltages) and time (3, 40 and 60 min postmortem) of stimulation on drip loss and meat color at 24 h post-mortem were determined on M. longissimus dorsi of 38 crossbred steers and heifers. In addition, the effect of pH early postmortem (70 min postmortem) on the rate and extend of meat tenderization was examined. Either high or low voltage stimulation at 3 min showed a tendency for faster pH decline (p=0.052) and higher drip loss (p=0.08), and improved the color dimensions of L*, a* and b* (p<0.01), compared to stimulation at 40 min. This was equivalent to approximately one unit of an AUSMEAT color chip. On the other hand, although there were significant differences in pH decline between high voltage stimulation at 40 and 60 min, and between low voltage stimulation at 40 min and control sides, drip loss and meat color did not differ significantly (p>0.05). The results suggested that early application of stimulation, regardless of type of stimulation, improved overall meat color at 24 h postmortem through its effect on faster glycolysing rate. However, if the pH decline was moderate, the benefit of electrical stimulation on meat color was not apparent. An intermediate pH decline resulted in the lowest shear force. Due to differential ageing rates the optimum pH at 70 min postmortem increased with ageing time from 5.96, 6.07, 6.12 and 6.14 for 1, 3, 7 and 14 days postmortem, respectively. This implied that a small difference in the rate of pH decline was important, especially carcasses stimulated for very early postmortem, and the optimum rate of pH decline varied with intended ageing period. The study suggests that the beneficial or adverse effects of electrical stimulation on drip loss, meat color and tenderness is determined by the rate of pH decline, rather than by stimulation treatment and time of application per se.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.8
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• pp.1197-1204
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• 2012

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of rapid chilling (RC) on beef quality and the degradation of cytoskeletal proteins. Twenty Chinese Yellow crossbred bulls were selected and randomly divided into two groups. RC and conventional chilling (CC) were applied to left and right sides of the carcasses respectively after slaughtering. To determine whether electrical stimulation (ES) treatment can alleviate the potential hazard of RC on meat quality, ES was applied to one group. The effects of RC and ES were determined by meat color, shear force and cytoskeletal protein degradation postmortem (PM). The results showed that RC decreased beef tenderness at 1 d and 3 d postmortem, but had no detrimental effect on meat color. Western blotting showed that RC decreased the degradation rate of desmin and troponin-T, but the effects weakened gradually as postmortem aging extended. Degradation rates of both desmin and troponin-T were accelerated by ES. The combination of RC and ES could improve beef color, accelerate degradation rate of cytoskeletal protein and improve beef tenderness.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.1361-1366
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• 2008

One-hundred and twenty Ischia grey rabbits, traditionally raised in pits, were equally divided after weaning (32 days) into three groups: group C, housed in cages (4 rabbits/cage) and fed a commercial concentrate; group GF, housed as C group and fed grasses collected on the island and crushed faba beans supplemented with an appropriate mineral vitamin mix; group P, housed in pits (8 rabbits/pit) and fed as GF group. Feed intake was recorded daily and live weight monthly up to slaughter (92 days). At slaughter, 10 rabbits per group were used to measure carcass and meat traits. The carcasses were weighed and measured according to the standard procedures and meat samples from the Longissimus dorsi and left hind leg were analysed for water holding capacity and chemical composition, respectively. During the entire trial, group C consumed significantly (p<0.01) a higher quantity of feed than the other groups (126.1 vs. 63.4 and 66.5 g/d, resp. for groups C, GF and P) and at slaughter showed a significantly (p<0.01) higher body weight (2,529.7 vs. 1,324.4 and 1,375.4 g, resp. for groups C, GF and P). Significant differences (p<0.01) were found also for dressing out percentage (68.6 vs. 66.6 and 66.9%, resp. for groups C, GF and P) and for meat chemical composition, in particular lipid percentage (4.13 vs. 1.84 and 1.93%, resp., for groups C, GF and P, p<0.01) and moisture (73.7 vs. 76.4 and 76.3%, resp. for groups C, GF and P, p<0.01). The results suggest the opportunity to obtain heavier animals raised in the pits if their diets were integrated with commercial feed.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.248-254
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• 1998

The two hundreds and twenty two pork carcasses from commercial breed were tested to compare technical quality characteristics and relationships with meat quality parameters between PSE and normal pork classified buy 24hr postmortem conductivity($C_u$). In characteristics of PSE and normal pork by $C_u$ value, highly significant differences were found in NPPC color scale and CIE L*(p＜0.001), moderately significant differences in $C_3$ and cooking loss(p＜0.01), and significant differences were in $C_6$, CIE b*, WHC and juiciness(p＜0.05). In correlation coefficients between $C_u$ and other meat quality determining factors, $C_u$ was poorly related with $pH_1$($R^2$=0.28, p<0.001), CIE a*($R^2$=0.14, p＜0.05), b*($R^2$=0.28, p＜0.01) and cooking loss($R^2$=0.26, p＜0.01). Also, relatively low correlation coefficients were observed in $pH_u$($R^2$=0.32, p＜0.001), WHC($R^2$=0.39, p＜0.001) and juiciness($R^2$=0.41, p＜0.001). Moderately high coefficients were found in NPPC color scale($R^2$=0.59, p＜0.001) and CIE L*($R^2$=0.58, p＜0.001).

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.11
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• pp.1849-1858
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• 2021

Objective: Tenderness is a very complex feature, and the process of its formation is very complicated and not fully understood. Its diversification is one of the most important problems of beef production, as a result beef aging is widely used to improve tenderness as it is believed to provide a homogeneous product to consumers. While few studies have evaluated the muscle structure properties in relation to tenderness from early post-mortem, there little to no information available on how the muscle nanostructure of beef carcasses changes during post-mortem ageing to determine the appropriate aging time for acceptable tenderness. Methods: Muscle nanostructure (myofibril diameter [MYD], myofibril spacing [MYS], muscle fibre diameter [MFD], muscle fibre spacing [MFS], and sarcomere length [SL]), meat tenderness and cooking loss [CL]) were measured on 20 A2 longissimus muscles of Bonsmara, Beefmaster, Hereford, and Simbra at 45_mins, 1, 3, and 7 days post-slaughter. Muscle nanostructure was measured using a scanning electron microscope, while tenderness was measured using Warner Bratzler shear force. Results: At 45 minutes post-slaughter, breed affected MYD and MYS only, while at 24_hrs it also affected MFD and MFS. On day 3 breed effected MFS and SL, while on day 7 breed effected tenderness only. As the muscles matured, both MYD and MYS decreased while CL increased, and the muscles became tender. There was no uniformity on muscle texture features (surface structure, fibre separation, muscle contraction, and relaxation) throughout the ageing period. Conclusion: Meat tenderness can be directly linked to breed related myofibril structure changes during aging in particular the MYD, spacing between myofibrils and their interaction; while the MFD, spacing between muscle fibres, SL, and CL explain the non-uniformity in beef tenderness.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.96-104
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• 2022

Objective: Sarcoplasmic proteins include proteins that play critical roles in biological processes of living organisms. How seasons influence biological processes and meat quality of postmortem muscles through the regulation of protein phosphorylation remain to be investigated. In this study, the phosphorylation of sarcoplasmic proteins in pork longissimus muscle was investigated in four seasons. Methods: Sarcoplasmic proteins were extracted from 40 pork carcasses (10 for each season) and analyzed through ProQ Diamond staining for phosphorylation labeling and Sypro Ruby staining for total protein labeling. The pH of muscle, contents of glycogen and ATP were measured at 45 min, 3 h, and 9 h postmortem and the water (P_2b, P₂₁, and P₂₂) was measured at 3 h and 9 h. Results: A total of 21 bands were detected. Band 8 (heat shock cognate 71 kDa protein; heat shock 70 kDa protein 1B) had higher phosphorylation level in summer than that in other seasons at 45 min postmortem. The phosphorylation levels of 3 Bands were significantly different between fast and normal pH decline groups (p<0.05). The phosphorylation levels of 4 bands showed negative associations with immobilized water (P₂₁) and positive association with free water (P₂₂). Conclusion: The phosphorylation levels of sarcoplasmic proteins involved in energy metabolism and heat stress response at early postmortem time differed depending on the seasons. These proteins include heat shock protein 70, pyruvate kinase, phosphoglucomutase-1, glucose-6-phosphate isomerase, and carbonic anhydrase 3. High temperatures in summer might result in the phosphorylation of those proteins, leading to pH decline and low water holding capacity.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.177-183
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• 2023

Rendering, is attracting attention as a technology that can stably and quickly process livestock carcasses. However, large amounts of livestock carcass solid residues are discharged in this process and limited methods are available for recycling them. In this study, rendered animal carcass solid residues were pyrolyzed to produce carbonized materials (350℃; RACR-C) and their chemical properties were investigated. Further, RACR-C were applied to cabbage cultivation for investigating their crop growth characteristics and soil improvement effects. RACR-C contained large amounts of fertilizer components such as nitrogen and phosphorus, and showed no toxic effects on the seedling growth of crops. The content of water-soluble nutrients released from RACR-C under the reaction time increased rapidly within 30 min, but was insignificant compared to the total content. Thus, most fertilizer components in RACR-C were not readily soluble in water. The optimal application amount for applying RACR-C to cabbage cultivation based on the changes in cabbage growth, inorganic content, and soil chemistry was 200 kg/10a. Overall, pyrolysis of solid residues after rendering livestock carcass to produce carbonized material as a soil improver is an effective method to recycle the waste discharged from the rendering process.