• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.497-511
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• 2020

This study aimed at comparing the storage stability, fatty acids profile, volatile flavor compounds and eating quality of Hanwoo beef longissimus thoracis (LT) muscles between two marbling morphological groups (fineness and coarseness). The 1⁺ grade Hanwoo LT muscles were measured for marbling fleck morphology at the 13^th thoracic vertebrae location by using computerized image analysis. Results reveal that both marbling groups had similar proximate composition (protein, fat, moisture and collagen), color and technological quality traits (p>0.05). However, the coarse marbling group presented greater C18:2n6 and polyunsaturated fatty acids contents compared to the fine marbling group (p<0.05). Furthermore, the fine marbling group presented lower volatile basic nitrogen (VBN) and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) contents compared to the coarse marbling group after 14 d storage (p<0.05). Also, higher amounts of C18:2n6 oxidation-derived volatile compounds such as hexanal and 3-ethyl-2-methyl-1,3-hexadiene, were found in the coarse marbling group. In term of sensory aspects, the finely-marbled group received higher scores of flavor and taste compared to the coarse marbling group (p<0.05). Overall, the marbling flecks morphology partially showed its effects on the storage stability, fatty acids profile and eating quality of the 1⁺ grade Hanwoo beef LT muscle.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.904-913
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• 2021

Objective: Marbling or intramuscular fat (IMF) has been widely reported to directly impact the sensory acceptance of meat. This study was carried out to determine the physical and sensory characteristics of ribeye, Longissimus dorsi steaks obtained from four different cattle breeds namely Wagyu, Angus, Brahman, and Malaysian local beef, the Kedah-Kelantan (KK). Methods: The degree of marbling was determined by using an established combined camera-image analysis technique while instrumental texture determination was carried out by using Warner-Bratzler shear force analysis. Sensory evaluation of the beef steaks was performed following a quantitative descriptive analysis incorporating 10 trained consumer panelists. Results: Wagyu was found to possess the highest (p<0.05) percentage of IMF at 33.90% and the lowest shear force (raw = 5.61 N/㎟; cooked = 14.72 N/㎟) followed by Angus (20.87%), Brahman (12.17%), and KK (p<0.05, 6.86%). The difference in sensory properties of the four steaks was evident, with Wagyu appearing to be highly correlated with most sensory attributes measured namely sustained buttery, tooth-packing, chewiness, juiciness, tenderness, mouthfeel, oiliness, and overall acceptability. The Malaysian local beef, KK was found to be less acceptable (p<0.05), although most of its sensory attributes were found similar (p>0.05) in appearance, aroma, texture, juiciness, and flavour to the cooked steak from Angus and Brahman. Conclusion: This present study demonstrated the role of IMF in determining the quality and sensory acceptance of beef from different cattle breeds. These data have provided new information and further understanding on the physical and sensory quality of Malaysian local beef.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.757-765
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• 2011

Fatty acid composition of beef intramuscular tissue is an important trait because high proportions of mono-unsaturated fatty acid are related to favorable beef flavor. In this study, we investigated the effects of genetic factors, such as stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), on beef carcass traits, including fatty acid composition, in the Hanwoo. Analysis of fatty acids in Hanwoo was performed using a breed raised in Gyeonbuk province (n = 395). Compared to the homozygote, the GA, CT, and CT genotypes of exon 5 in the SCD polymorphism showed a higher content of oleic acid (p<0.05) and higher contents of mono-unsaturated fatty acid (p<0.05) and marbling scores (p<0.05) in intramuscular fat. Results of haplotype analysis showed a significant presence of unsaturated fatty acids and marbling score in the $ht1^*ht2$ and $ht2^*ht2$ groups (p<0.05). Furthermore, haplotype effects more powerful than a single gene were also observed. These ht1 and ht2 types also showed a significant difference in unsaturated fatty acids and marbling score, affecting beef flavor in the Hanwoo groups. Therefore, it can be inferred that the ht1 and ht2 types might be valuable new markers for use in improvement of Hanwoo.

• Journal of Practical Agriculture & Fisheries Research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.3-12
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• 2016

Vitamin D plays a vital role in maintaining blood concentrations of Ca and P. In lipid metabolism, vitamin D is also known to negatively affect the development of adipocytes, but it has received little attention with regard to improve marbling score in beef cattle via restricting its supply. Recently, the method of feeding fat soluble vitamins(including vitamin D)-deficient diets in Korean native cattle (Hanwoo) has been spread by feed companies and TMR plants. But proper guidelines in feeding vitamin D-deficient diets should be provided, otherwise it can adversely affect the health of cattle. To maximize marbling score, a controlled level of vitamin D in blood needs to be maintained and the proper period for feeding vitamin D-deficient diets should be provided. This review was conducted to highlight the regulatory effects of vitamins D on adipocyte differentiation, and provide information on improving beef quality grades in relation to feeding vitamin D-deficient diets in beef cattle.

• Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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• v.30 no.6 s.113
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• pp.340-346
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• 2005

Major quality features of the beef carcass in most countries including Korea are size, marbling state of the lean tissue, color of the fat and lean tissue, and thickness of back fat of the 13th rib. To evaluate the beef quality, extracting loin parts from the sectional image of the 13th beef rib is crucial and is the first step. However, because of the inhomogeneous distribution and fuzzy pattern of the fat and lean tissues on the beef cut, it is difficult to extract automatically the proper contour of the lean tissue. In this paper, a prototype mobile beef quality measurement system, which can be implemented practically at the beef processing site was developed. The developed system was composed of the hand held image acquisition unit and mobile processing unit mounted with touch-pad screen. Algorithms to extract the boundary of the lean tissue and a proper tool to evaluate the marbling status have been developed using color image processing. The boundary extraction algorithm showed successful results for the beef cuts with simple and moderate patterns of the lean tissue and fat. However, it had some difficulty in eliminating complex pattern of the extraneous tissues adhered to the lean tissue in the boundary extraction. The developed algorithms were implemented to the prototype mobile processing unit.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.635-638
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• 2003

Japanese Black cattle (Wagyu) are fed for a long period to produce high quality beef, however, extended feeding often causes inefficiency and greater environmental load mainly derived from their manure. The objectives of this study were to analyze changes in feeding length by listing breeding values (BVs) at calf markets and the relationships between BVs and carcass characteristics of 4,052 Japanese Black cattle, and to examine the feasibility of optimizing feeding length by referring to listed BVs. BV classes A, B, and C were defined based on BVs of cows in Shimane Prefecture as follows: an upper quarter of BVs was classified as A, a second quarter as B, and under the average as C. For cattle sold at calf markets in the first term of 1996, just before the start of BV listing, the feeding length of cattle with class B BVs for the beef marbling standard (BMS) was longer (p>0.05) than that of class A cattle. However, in the second term of 1996, just after the start of BV listing, the feeding length of class B cattle became shorter (p<0.001) than that of class A cattle. Then, the feeding lengths of both classes showed no significant differences. Feeding lengths of both class A and B BVs for carcass weight (CW) changed similarly to the corresponding BV classes for BMS. The analysis of the relationships among the listed BV classes and the actual carcass characteristics showed that class A cattle had a higher (p<0.001) BMS than class B cattle, and that the higher-class cattle had a heavier CW (p<0.05). On the basis of previous reports, the cattle, particularly those with lower genetic marbling ability, seem to only increase marbling at markedly low efficiency for a few months before slaughter. Therefore, the finding that carcass characteristics corresponded to their class of BVs suggests that an optimum feeding length based on listed BVs not only increases the efficiency of beef production, but also reduces the environmental load.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.19-29
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• 2013

Marbling (intramuscular fat) is an important trait that affects meat quality and is a casual factor determining the price of beef in the Korean beef market. It is a complex trait and has many biological pathways related to muscle and fat. There is a need to identify functional modules or genes related to marbling traits and investigate their relationships through a weighted gene co-expression network analysis based on the system level. Therefore, we investigated the co-expression relationships of genes related to the 'marbling score' trait and systemically analyzed the network topology in Hanwoo (Korean cattle). As a result, we determined 3 modules (gene groups) that showed statistically significant results for marbling score. In particular, one module (denoted as red) has a statistically significant result for marbling score (p = 0.008) and intramuscular fat (p = 0.02) and water capacity (p = 0.006). From functional enrichment and relationship analysis of the red module, the pathway hub genes (IL6, CHRNE, RB1, INHBA and NPPA) have a direct interaction relationship and share the biological functions related to fat or muscle, such as adipogenesis or muscle growth. This is the first gene network study with m.logissimus in Hanwoo to observe co-expression patterns in divergent marbling phenotypes. It may provide insights into the functional mechanisms of the marbling trait.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.913-920
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• 2012

In this study, we investigated the relationship between unsaturated fatty acids influencing beef flavor and four types of SNPs (c.280A>G, c.388G>A, c.408G>C and c.456A>G) located at exon 2, 3 and 4 of the FABP4 gene, which is a fatty acid binding protein 4 in Korean cattle (n = 513). When analyzing the relationship between single genotype, fatty acids and carcass trait, individuals of GG, GG, CC and GG genotypes that are homozygotes, had a higher content of unsaturated fatty acids and marbling scores than other genotypes (p<0.05). Then, haplotype block showed strong significant relationships not only with unsaturated fatty acids (54.73%), but also with marbling scores (5.82) in $ht1{\times}ht1$ group (p<0.05). This $ht1{\times}ht1$ group showed significant differences with unsaturated fatty acids and marbling scores that affected beef flavor in Korean cattle. Therefore, it can be inferred that the $ht1{\times}ht1$ types might be valuable new markers for use in the improvement of Korean cattle.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.924-937
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the meat metabolite profiles related to differences in beef quality attributes (i.e., high-marbled and low-marbled groups) using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The beef of different marbling scores showed significant differences in water content and fat content. High-marbled meat had mainly higher taste compounds than low-marbled meat. Metabolite analysis showed differences between two marbling groups based on partial least square discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). Metabolites identified by PLS-DA, such as N,N-dimethylglycine, creatine, lactate, carnosine, carnitine, sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine, betaine, glycine, glucose, alanine, tryptophan, methionine, taurine, tyrosine, could be directly linked to marbling groups. Metabolites from variable importance in projection plots were identified and estimated high sensitivity as candidate markers for beef quality attributes. These potential markers were involved in beef taste-related pathways including carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism. Among these metabolites, carnosine, creatine, glucose, and lactate had significantly higher in high-marbled meat compared to low-marbled meat (p<0.05). Therefore, these results will provide an important understanding of the roles of taste-related metabolites in beef quality attributes. Our findings suggest that metabolomics analysis of taste compounds and meat quality may be a powerful method for the discovery of novel biomarkers underlying the quality of beef products.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.613-620
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• 2012

Marbling from intramuscular fat is an important trait of meat quality and has an economic benefit for the beef industry. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) fine mapping was performed to identify the marbling trait in 266 Hanwoo steers using a 10K single nucleotide polymorphism panel with the combined linkage and linkage disequilibrium method. As a result, we found nine putative QTL regions for marbling: three on BTA6, two on BTA17, two on BTA22, and two on BTA29. We detected candidate genes for marbling within 1 cM of either side of the putative QTL regions. Additionally, to understand the functions of these candidate genes at the molecular level, we conducted a functional categorization using gene ontology and pathway analyses for those genes involved in lipid metabolism or fat deposition. In these putative QTL regions, we found 95 candidate genes for marbling. Using these candidate genes, we found five genes that had a direct interaction with the candidate genes. We also found SCARB1 as a putative candidate gene for marbling that involves fat deposition related to cholesterol transport.