Effect of Pasture Finishing on Beef Quality of Japanese Shorthorn Steers

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Effect of pasture finishing on $\alpha$-tocopherol and $\beta$-carotene concentrations, drip loss, cooking loss, Warner-Bratzler shear force, fatty acid composition, meat color and metmyoglobin percentage of m. longissimus thoracis of Japanese Shorthorn steers was studied. Japanese Shorthorn steers (n=8), fattened indoors with a concentrate-based diet until they were 19 months of age were divided into two groups of four steers. Steers of the concentrate-fed group were fattened indoors with a concentrate-based diet until they were slaughtered. Steers of the pasture-fed group were fattened on pasture until they were slaughtered. The $\alpha$-tocopherol and $\beta$-carotene concentrations in the muscle of the pasture-fed group were higher (p<0.05) than those of the concentrate-fed group. The drip loss of the muscle of the pasture-fed group was lower (p<0.05) than that of the concentrate-fed group. Compared with the concentrate-fed group, the concentration of peroxidisable lipids (fatty acids with three or more unsaturated bonds) in the muscle of the pasture-fed group was high (p<0.05). The metmyoglobin percentage during display of the muscle of the pasture-fed group was higher (p<0.05) than that of the concentrate-fed group. These results suggested that pasture finishing decreased drip loss of the beef but lowered meat color stability.