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Corpus Journal of Dairy and Veterinary Science
[ ISSN : 2833-0536 ]


Cull Beef Cow from Southern Portugal: High Amount of n-3 PUFA

Research Article
Volume 4 - Issue 2 | Article DOI : 10.54026/CJDVS1058


Elisabeth Cunha da Silva1 , João Marques Almeida2,3,4, Luis Telo da Gama3,4, Ana Portugal2 , José Santos-Silva2,3,4, Ana Teresa Belo2 , Sofia van Harten3,4,5, Olga Moreira2 and Maria Cristina Bressan3,4,5*

1Department of Food Engineering, Center of Agrarian Sciences, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Campus do Pici, CEP: 60.356-000, Fortaleza-CE, Brazil
2National Institute for Agricultural and Veterinary Research, Animal Production Station. Santarém, Portugal, (INIAV), I P, 2005-048 Vale de Santarém, Portugal
3CIISA, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-477 Lisbon, Portugal
4Associate Laboratory for Animal and Veterinary Sciences (AL4AnimalS), Portugal
5Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias,1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal

Corresponding Authors

Maria Cristina Bressan, CIISA, Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-477 Lisbon and Associate Laboratory for Animal and Veterinary Sciences (AL4AnimalS) and Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias,1749-024 Lisbon, Portugal

Keywords

Mature Cows; Meat Quality; Rumenic Acid; Vaccenic Acid; Montado Agroforestry System

Received : June 02, 2023
Published : June 20, 2023

Abstract

The goal of this research work was to characterize carcass, meat quality traits, proximate composition and lipid profile of cull beef cows reared in extensive systems across various seasons. Mature beef cows (n=65) with mean age of 14.12 years and culled from commercial farms were slaughtered in the Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, after a finishing period of about 4 weeks. The meat quality traits were analyzed at 7 d postmortem in Longissimus thoracis, Longissimus lumborum, Semimembranosus, Psoas major and Semitendinosus muscles. The highest carcass yield was obtained in Winter (P <0.05), but the Intramuscular Fat (IMF) means were similar in the different seasons. The meat samples showed high average Warner-Bratzler shear forceWBSF (between 5.41-6.86kg), which may be considered as tough (according to the scale used), except for the Longissimus thoracis which showed intermediate average (5.13kg). However, Psoas major obtained the highest overall acceptance scores. Samples of meat from animals kept in extensive system, natural conditions of Southern Portugal, present high amounts of n-3 PUFA. In Autumn and Summer, portions of 100 g/day of meats with 4.03% and 4.25% of IMF with 1.12 and 2.20% of n-3 PUFA in total fatty acids, can provide between 72.96 and 143.31mg of n-3 PUFA or 31.99 and 61.21mg/d of EPA plus DHA, which corresponds to 12.47% and 24.48% of the requirements recommended by EFSA authorities (250mg/d of EPA plus DHA).