Comparative evaluation of shoulder muscles from Sokoto Gudali, White Fulani and Red Bororo cattle.

Abstract

Proper assessment of the quality of meat of muscles from different breeds of cattle has been a subject of concern. Do muscles from the same breed differ in chemical and mineral composition or do consumers have different taste preferences for different muscles? This study evaluated the composition of different shoulder muscles from three breeds of cattle and the different muscles within their shoulders. Nine one-year-old male cattle, comprising 3 Sokoto Gudali (SG), 3 White Fulani (WF) and 3 Red Bororo (RB) breeds were reared semi–intensively, fed with concentrate and allowed to graze for 10 weeks. Shoulder muscles, Triceps brachi (TB), Trapezius (T), Infraspinatus (IF), Supraspinatus (S), Pectoralis (P), Latissimus dorsi (LAD) and Longissimus dorsi (LOD), were evaluated for proximate, minerals and palatability status, in a completely randomized design. Sokoto Gudali had significantly higher nutritional quality than WF and RB especially in terms of crude protein (CP), ash, Mg, Fe, and P contents and lower amount of ether extract (P<0.05).Infraspinatus muscles were better than the other shoulder muscles evaluated (P<0.05). The physico-chemical evaluation showed that SG had significantly (P<0.05)more water (WHC-497%) than WF (456%) and RB (491%). A similar result was obtained with IF muscle when compared with the other muscles evaluated. The SG had higher values (P<0.05) for flavour (6.01), tenderness (6.10), juiciness (5.91), texture (5.86), and overall acceptability (6.39) than values obtained for WF and RB. IF muscle gave the highest score for acceptability (6.78), flavour, tenderness, juiciness and texture but SG appeared to be the best breed.