EATING QUALITY OF BEEF FROM DIFFERENT SIRE BREEDS

Three hundred and eight cattle, comprising steers and heifers from con tinental and British crosses were finished on an 18-month beef product ion system at Warren Farm, Lambourn, Berkshire and slaughtered across a range of fatness levels. The eating quality of roasting joints (semi membranosus and sirloin steaks (longissimus thoracis et lumborum) was evaluated and the chemical composition of the lean tissue was taken on a subset of the samples. Results suggested that the greatest differen ces between the breeds was in the joints. There were significant (P < 0.01) differences in the lipid, moisture and collagen contents of the lean tissue of the joints from the different sire breeds. The Belgian Blue sire progeny had significantly lower lipid content than the Charo lais or Aberdeen Angus crosses, and significantly lower collagen conte nt than the Aberdeen Angus cross. In addition joints from Belgian Blue crosses were more tender than joints from other breed crosses. Althou gh the lipid and moisture contents of the steaks from different sire c rosses were significantly different there was no evidence of differenc es in eating quality. Perhaps surprisingly there were no significant r elationships between the eating quality and chemical composition betwe en or within breed. Irrespective of breed, carcass fatness influenced the juiciness of both the joints and the steaks although the response was different for continental crosses and British crosses and depended on carcass sex. Over and above this response, steer meat was generall y more juicy than heifer meat.