Meat Characteristics of Discharged Buffalo Fed with Different Roughage : Concentrate Ratio

Meat characteristics of buffaloES fed with different roughage : concentrate ratios

Sanchai Jaturasitha1*, CHUTIMA PETRA1, Ancharlie Na-Chiangmai2, Nikorn Sanghuayprai3 and Matthias Gauly4

1 Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand Fax 0066-53-357601

2 Animal Husbandry Division, Department of Livestock Development, Bangkok 10400, Thailand

3 Lamphyaklang Livestock Research and Development Center, Lopburi 15190, Thailand

4 Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Georg-August University of Göttingen, Albrecht-Thaer-Weg 3, 37075 Göttingen, Germany

Corresponding author: Dr. Sanchai Jaturasitha, Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand Tel. +66-53-221667 Fax: +66-53-357601 Email:

Abstract: Meat characteristics of mature swamp buffalo fed with two different ratios of roughage and concentrate feed was studied. Twelve draught buffaloes with an average weight of 350 kg were randomly divided into two treatments and kept individually in pens. The concentrate:roughage ratio (based on dry matter) was 50:50 (T1) or 30:70 (T2), respectively. All buffaloes were slaughtered at a body weight of 500 kg (± 25) and M. longissimus dorsi was removed in order to study meat quality. The meat quality in terms of color, pH and conductivity values were not significantly different between the groups. Meat color in terms of L* (lightness) showed that LD of T2 group was significantly lighter when compared with T1 (P< 0.01). However, the redness (a* value) and the yellowness (b* value) were not significantly different. Water holding capacity (WHC) in terms of drip, thawing, boiling and grilling loss was not significantly different. Furthermore, the fat, protein and moisture percentage of both groups was not different (P>0.05). In conclusion, meat characteristic traits of buffalo fed concentrate to roughage in ratios of 50:50 or 30:70 were similar.

Key word: Feed ratio, Meat Quality, Swamp Buffalo

Introduction

In Thailand, mainly pork and chicken meat is consumed. However, there is also an increasing demand for buffalo meat because the consumers concern their health in order to have low fat and cholesterol contents. Swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is the indigenous buffalo in Thailand including lower of Chinese and Southeast Asia countries especially Vietnam, Lao, Cambodia, Philippines and Malaysia. Many buffaloes in Thailand are mainly used as draught animals until an average age of 14 years. Normally, buffaloes are kept on pasture. The major sources of roughage are Paragrass (Brachiaria mutica), Ruzi grass (Brachairia ruziziensis), Napier (Pennisetum purpureum), Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) and Stylo (Stylosanthes guianensi). Concentrate is also supplemented in more intensive production systems. So far only studies of buffalo meat quality were done in young animals (Sekhon and Bawa, 1996; Di Luccia et al., 2003). No information is available for old animals.

The objective of this study was to investigate the meat quality of buffaloes older than 5 years under two feeding systems regarding the ratio of concentrate to roughage.

Material and methods

Twelve swamp buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) with an average weight of 350 kg were randomly divided into two groups and kept individually in pens. One group was fed a concentrate:roughage ratio (based on dry matter) of 50:50 (T1), whereas the other group received a ratio of 30:70 (T2). The average age of the experimented animals of T1 and T2 were 1203.00+23.26 and 1274.40+87.01 days while the fattening period was 244.30+23.70 and 215.20+16.00 days, respectively. All buffaloes were slaughtered at 500 kg (± 25) of live weight of and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle was removed in order to study meat quality. PH-value (pH-meter: Model 191, Knick, Berlin, Germany) and conductivity (conductivity probe: Model 197 WTW, Germany) were determined 45 min and 24 hours post mortem at between the 10th and 11th rib muscle as described by Jaturasitha (2000). Longissimus dorsi muscle (LD) samples were collected after carcass chilling for 24 hours at 4 °C and evaluated for color with Minolta Chroma Meter CR-300 (Osaka, Japan), water holding capacity (Honikel, 1987) and chemical composition (AOAC, 1995).

Statistical analyses

Statistical analysis was performed using SAS (version 6.12) for Windows (SAS, 2001). The t-test was used to analyze the difference between the ratio of forage to concentrate.

Results and conclusions

The indirect meat characteristic as described by pH and conductivity values of the two treatments is shown in Table 1. No significant differences were found between the groups. The pH values at both times (45 min and 24 hr p.m.) were in tendency higher in group 2, which was in contrast to the conductivity values. Conductivity values were similar to those which were found in male buffalo calves (Sekhon and Bawa, 1996).

The direct meat characteristic as described by color, chemical composition and water holding capacity is shown in Table 2. Meat color in terms of L* (lightness) showed that LD of group 2 was significantly lighter when compared with group 1 (P< 0.01). However the redness (a* value) and the yellowness (b* value) were not significant different. These values were lower when compared with Simmental cattle and buffalo bulls (Spanghero et al., 2004). The chemical composition of buffalo meat in terms of water, protein and fat percentages were not significantly different between the groups. The animals of this study showed relatively higher protein and fat levels when compared with young buffalo calves (Spanghero et al., 2004). The water holding capacity in terms of drip, thawing, boiling and grilling losses of both groups were not statistically different. Similar results of old female buffalo meat were reported (Raj et al., 2000)

In conclusion, partial replacement of concentrate improved buffalo meat quality of buffalo only in term of lightness. In order to reduce cost fattening of old buffaloes discharged from field should be done with a roughage : concentrate ratio of 70 : 30.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Agricultural Research Development Agency (Public Organization), the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Royal Thai Government for their financial support.

References

AOAC. 1995. Official Methods of Analysis. Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Arlington, VA

Di Luccia, A., A. Satriani, C.M.A. Barone, P. Colatruglio, S. Gigli, M. Occidente, E. Trivellone, A. Zullo and D. Matassino. 2003. Effect of dietary energy content on the intramuscular fat depots and triglyceride composition of river buffalo meat. Meat Sci. 65: 1379-1389.

Honikel, K.O. 1987. How to measure the water holding capacity of meat? Recommendation of standardized method. In: Evaluation and Control of Meat Quality in Pigs. eds. P.V. Tarrant, Eikelenboom, G. and G. Monin. Martinus Nijhoff Publisher, The Hague. 129-142 p.

Infascelli, F., S. Gigli and G. Campanile. 2004. Buffalo meat production: Performance intra vitam and quality of meat. Vet. Res. Communi. 28: 143-148.

Jaturasitha, S. 2000. Meat Technology. Tanabun Press, Chiang Mai, Thailand 244 p.

Raj, K.R., R.J. Rao, D.N. rao and N.S. Mahendrakar. 2000. Influence of direct and delayed chilling of excised female buffalo muscles on their textural quality. Meat Sci. 56: 95-99.

SAS. 2001. Institute Inc., SAS/STAT Software: Changes and Enhancements, Release 8.2, Cary, North Carolina, USA.

Sekhon, K.S. and A.S. Bawa. 1996. Effect of muscle-type, stage of maturity and level of nutrition on the quality of meat from male buffalo calves. Food Res. Int. 29: 779-783.

Spanghero, M., L. Gracco, R. Valusso and E. Piasentier. 2004. In vivo performance, slaughtering traits and meat quality of bovine (Italian Simmental) and buffalo (Italian Mediterranean) bulls. Lives. Prod. Sci. 91: 129-141.

Table 1. pH- and conductivity value of M. longissimus dorsi (LD) of buffalo fed with 2 different forage to concentrate ratios.

1= forage to concentrate ratio 50:50; 2 = forage to concentrate ratio 70:30

pHi = pH 45 min post mortem ; pHu = pH 24 hrs. Post mortem

ECi = conductivity 45 min post mortem; ECu = conductivity 24 hrs. post mortem

Table 2. Meat color, chemical composition and water holding capacity of M longissimus dorsi (LD) of buffalo fed with 2 different forage to concentrate ratios

1= forage to concentrate ratio 50:50; 2 = forage to concentrate ratio 70:30

1/ L* = Lightness; black=0-white=100, a* =redness; red=100-green=-80, b* =yellowness; yellow=70-blue=-50.