Food Sci. Technol. Res., 18 (6), 761–768, 2012 Characterization of Commercial Cuts from the Crioulo Lageano Beef Breed 1 2 3 3 Marina Leite Mitterer-Daltoé , Alexandre Floriani raMos , Edison Martins , Vera Maria Villamil Martins and 1* Maria Isabel Queiroz 1 Federal University of Rio Grande, RS, Brazil 2 Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, DF, Brazil 3 State University of Santa Catarina, SC, Brazil Received February 8, 2012; Accepted July 31, 2012 This work aimed to study the features of Crioulo Lageano beef cattle and compare them with those of the Nellore, the main commercial breed of Brazil. Twelve cattle each of the Nellore and Crioulo Lageano were evaluated for carcass characteristics, muscle:carcass ratio and chemical composition of commercial cuts: topside, rum cap, eye round, sirloin, tenderloin and rib eye. In this study, the meat of Crioulo Lag- eano exhibited a higher marbling score than that of Nellore. Rib eye and sirloin cuts of Crioulo Lageano stood out due to their weight and intramuscular fat content. The following variables explained 69.4% of the characteristics of the Crioulo Lageano beef as determined by principal components analysis (PCA): hot carcass weight, hindquarter, forequarter, pistola, topside, rum cap, eye round, sirloin, tenderloin, rib eye and dressing. The muscle:carcass ratio and PCA values demonstrated the adaptability of the Crioulo Lageano cattle to the southern Santa Catarina Plateau. Keywords: beef, Bos indicus, Bos Taurus, carcass, chemical composition Introduction tury. Although more productive, these breeds did not have Brazil is the largest producer and second-largest exporter adaptive traits such as resistance to ectoparasites found in of beef in the world (MAPA, 2010). According to IBGE native breeds. However, these commercial breeds gradually (2009), the country has about 199.7 million heads of cattle, replaced the native breeds, to the point of the risk of extinc- 80% of which represent cattle of zebu origin (Bos indicus), tion of the native breeds (Martins et al., 2009, Mariante et with Nellore as the predominant breed. The Bos taurus are al., 2009). According to Lauvie et al. (2011), rare breeds not bred in the south of the country, and unlike Bos indicus cat- only face conservation challenges but also represent devel- tle, these are characterized by tender meat with a high degree opmental opportunities. of marbling (Yokoo et al., 2008; Ferraz and Felicio, 2010). Although it is as a major player in the international beef The Crioulo Lageano cattle breed (Bos taurus) is a market, Brazil should prepare for increased international naturalized Brazilian breed found in the south, with a flock competitiveness, mainly caused by the external market concentrated in Lages / SC - Brazil. The adverse conditions through subsidies and technological barriers (Euclides, of this terrain, along with cold winters and poor vegetation, 2004). These barriers imposed on agricultural products by have helped produce cattle that are perfectly adapted to the developed countries provide an opportunity for Brazil to ecological conditions of this region. These cattle are resistant consolidate itself in the beef export market competitively by to diseases and parasites and are thus able to greatly con- offering differentiated products in terms of quality. In this tribute to breeding programs (Primo et al., 1992, Rangel et scenario, the Crioulo Lageano beef is considered as a strong al., 2004). The importation of commercial breeds selected candidate to offer a product with high-quality features of its from temperate regions began in the early twentieth cen- own. In the characterization of beef, carcass characteristics, *To whom correspondence should be addressed. yields from commercial cuts and chemical composition are E-mail: [email protected]; factors of great importance. Knowledge of the quantitative [email protected] and qualitative characteristics of the carcass is fundamental 762 M.l. Mitterer-Daltoé et al. to the meat industry, which aims to improve the potential frozen at −30℃. The samples were transported to the Bio- quality of the final product (Oliveira et al., 2005; Albertí et technology Laboratory, Federal University of Rio Grande. al., 2005, Orellana et al., 2009; Indurain et al., 2009; Lambe Before each test, the sections were thawed for 24 h at 3 ± 1℃, et al., 2010). It can be said that the variations found in car- as indicated by Rubio et al. (2007). cass composition are due to feed, sex, age and genetic group, Chemical composition The different sections of the two as well as the interactions among these factors (Boleman et breeds in question were characterized according to chemical al., 1998; Oliveira, 2005). The most important factors affect- composition by analyzing the following: moisture content ing the value of carcasses are the yield of commercial cuts at 105℃, protein content by determination of total nitrogen and meat quality, which are related to the carcass fat content (Kjeldahl), with conversion by a factor of 6.25, and ash con- (Boleman et al., 1998). Bovine carcass classification systems tent (AOAC, 1995). Intramuscular fat was extracted using a have two objectives: first, to estimate the yield of marketable binary mixture of chloroform and methanol and quantified meat and second, to determine its quality (Indurian et al., gravimetrically (Blig and Dyer, 1959). 2009). According to this same work, among the different pa- Statistical Analysis The results were evaluated by rameters that determine the quality of meat, marbling or in- analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a principal component tramuscular fat content has been an important factor because analysis (PCA) was performed to study the relationships be- of its relationship with flavor, tenderness and juiciness. tween carcass characteristics for each breed. The data were Chemical composition influences the taste of meat and analyzed with Software Statistica 7.0. consumer acceptance (Jeremiah et al., 2003; Raes et al., 2003). The chemical composition of meat provides important Results and Discussion information because this food is rich in elements that are es- Carcass characteristics The results for the carcass char- sential to health (Raes et al., 2003). Therefore, the aim of this acteristics between the breeds in study are presented in Table work was to study the beef from the Crioulo Lageano breed 1. and compare it to Nellore, the main commercial breed of Data analysis indicates no significant difference (p ≥ 0.05) Brazil, in terms of the carcass characteristics, muscle:carcass among breeds with regard to live weight, hot carcass weight, ratio and chemical composition of six commercial cuts. hindquarter and tenderloin weight and subcutaneous fat. The largest differences were observed for the weights of the rib Material and Methods eye and sirloin cuts and carcass dressing and marbling. Orel- Carcass evaluation Twenty-four cattle, castrated males lana et al. (2009) characterized and compared the carcass between 30 and 36 months of age, were divided into two characteristics and meat quality of the Crioulo Argentina groups: Nellore (n = 12) and Crioulo Lageano (n = 12). and synthetic English Bradford breeds, both of which are The animals were fed on natural pastures consisting of fine straw supplemented with protein salt from fields in the city Table 1. Averages and their standard deviations of carcass of Lages. After achieving a weight of approximately 420 kg, characteristics of the Nellore (n = 12) and Crioula Lageana (n = 12) breeds. they were fed on annual winter pastures consisting of rye, oats and ryegrass supplemented with mineral salt. The Crio- Nellore Crioula Lageana ulo Lageano 74 days after being placed in pastures, and the live weight (kg) 518.7a ± 49.53 492.9a ± 66.41 Nellore were ready for slaughter 98 days after being placed hot carcass weight (kg) 280.9a ± 27.28 252.1a ± 43.54 a a in pastures. hindquarter (kg) 167.3 ± 15.41 154.7 ± 27.25 a b The animals were slaughtered in a slaughterhouse in Lag- forequarter (kg) 107.4 ± 12.04 92.4 ± 14.80 pistola (kg) 139.1a ± 12.40 124.5b ± 20.74 es. After slaughter, carcasses were kept in a cold room at 3 a b topside (kg) 9.82 ± 0.86 8.22 ± 1.34 ± 1℃ for 24 h before the removal of cuts. The animals were rum cap (kg) 1.30a ± 0.13 1.06b ± 0.29 evaluated for dressing, the hot carcass weight, and the weight eye round (kg) 2.57a ± 0.31 1.98b ± 0.34 a b of the hindquarter, forequarter and pistola. The subcutaneous sirloin(kg) 4.08 ± 0.40 5.69 ± 0.95 a a fat over the longissimus dorsi muscle was measured using a tenderloin (kg) 2.18 ± 0.23 2.15 ± 0.36 rib eye (kg) 1.75a ± 0.23 4.35b ± 0.98 caliper. The marbling of the loin eye area was visually evalu- a b dressing (%) 53.85 ± 1.15 50.92 ± 2.17 ated using a 6-point scale (Judge et al., 1989) (1 = low to 6 = subcutaneous fat (mm) 5.70a ± 1.95 7.25a ± 2.92 moderately abundant). The conformation was evaluated visu- marbling 1.41a ± 0.66 2.66b ± 0.77 ally according to Felicio (2003). After dressing carcass, the conformation 3.25a ± 0.75 3.41a ± 0.79 topside, rum cap, eye round, sirloin, tenderloin and rib eye The different letters are significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) between cuts of each carcass were weighed, vacuum packaged and breeds. Characterization of Commercial Cuts from the Crioulo Lageano Beef Breed 763 of Bos taurus origin and raised in Argentina. The results Regarding the evaluated cuts, Nellore cattle presented indicate differences between the breeds with respect to hot greater weights at (p ≤ 0.05) for the topside, rum cap and eye carcass weight, dressing, subcutaneous fat and marbling, round cuts. The higher weight values for the topside, rum with the Bradford breed presenting higher values ​​for all of cap and eye round cuts of Nellore and higher values ​​for the these characteristics.