Abstract

Hemicastrates and steers were slaughtered at similar carcass weights at 14, 18 and 22 months of age for the assessment of factors associated with tenderness difference in representative forequarter muscles. Objective tests indicated that hemicastrate meat was tougher than that from steers at 22 months of age only. Heat labile collagen content was the major parameter associated with tenderness in M. longissimus; in both M. splenus and M. triceps brachii it was sarcomere length.

JJ, Bass, DL Johnson, EG Woods, and RW Moore

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 42, , 125-126, 1982