Effects of management history, breed-type and carcass characteristics on palatability attributes of beef

Vita.Four hundred eighty-six feeder steers were selected at a commercial feedlot, fed a high-concentrate finishing ration for 100, 130 or 160 days and slaughtered at a commercial packing plant. The steers were evaluated as feeder cattle (at the onset of the experiment), as slaughter cattle (at the termination of each feeding period) and as carcasses (24 hr postmortem). A wholesale rib was removed from each carcass (96 hr postmortem), vacuum packaged and transported to the Meat Laboratory of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station. Following a 12-14 day postmortem aging period, two steaks were obtained from each wholesale rib for palatability determinations. Samples of one cooked steak were evaluated by an 8-member, trained sensory panel for juiciness, myofibrillar tenderness, amount of organoleptically-detectable connective tissue, overall tenderness, flavor desirability and overall palatability. The second steak was used for determination of Warner-Bratzler shear force. Evaluations of feeder cattle muscling and frame size were effective in identifying subsequent differences in carcass characteristics and palatability attributes. Thickly muscled feeder cattle produced carcasses with the highest (P<.05) carcass conformation scores, the largest (P <.05) longissimus muscle areas and the heaviest (P<.05) carcass weights, while thinly muscled feeder cattle produced carcasses with the lowest (P<.05) carcass conformation scores, the smallest (P<.05) longissimus muscle areas and the lightest (P<.05) carcass weights. Small framed feeder cattle produced lighter weight carcasses that were fatter and higher grading (U.S.D.A. quality grade) and rib steaks that were more palatable than those from large framed feeder cattle.