Meat Quality Characteristics of Wannan Cattle and Simmental Crossbred Cattle
SHAO Zhihua, CUI Shuangshuang, DING Lujiang, XU Xiuyun, TANG Hang, ZHANG Lu, HU Jiayan, SONG Ning, ZHANG Yunhai, LIU Hongyu
1. Jixi County Animal Disease Prevention and Control Center, Xuancheng 245399, China; 2. College of Animal Science and Technology, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China; 3. Anhui Agricultural University Beef Cattle Industry Research Institute, Hefei 230036, China
Abstract：In order to study the meat quality characteristics of Wannan cattle and Simmental crossbred cattle, 42-month-old, healthy and disease-free male Wannan cattle and Simmental crossbred cattle (Simmental ♂ × Wannan ♀) (n = 3 per breed) were slaughtered and longissimus dorsi, biceps femoris and musculus obliquus externus abdominis were taken for analyses of meat quality attributes and determination of proximate nutrients, mineral elements and amino acids, etc. The results showed that compared to Simmental crossbred cattle, biceps femoris from Wannan cattle exhibited significantly higher ash and copper contents (P < 0.05) and musculus obliquus externus abdominis had significantly lower fat content (P < 0.05) and highly significantly higher phosphorus content (P < 0.01). The amino acid content of each muscle from both breeds met the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization criteria for high-quality protein, but the content of umami amino acids in each muscle from Wannan cattle was higher than that of the Simmental crossbred cattle. The contents of C14:0, C18:2 n-6 and C20:4 n-6 in longissimus dorsi and the C20:4 n-6 content of biceps femoris from Wannan cattle were significantly higher than those of the Simmental crossbred cattle (P < 0.05), the C16:1 content of longissimus dorsi and the C14:0 and C16:1 contents of biceps femoris were highly significantly higher (P < 0.01), and the contents of C16:1, C17:1 and C20:4 n-6 in musculus obliquus externus abdominis were significantly lower (P < 0.05). In terms of muscle fiber characteristics, the muscle fiber diameter of all three muscles from Wannan cattle was highly significantly lower than that of the Simmental crossbred cattle (P < 0.01), while the muscle fiber density of biceps femoris and musculus obliquus externus abdominis was highly significantly higher (P < 0.01) and that of longissimus dorsi was significantly higher (P < 0.05). In summary, Wannan beef had higher total amino acid content, umami amino acid content, total essential amino acid content and better muscle fiber characteristics, showing the potential to be high-quality beef.
2026, Vol. 40 
