Effects of blade tenderization on some quality characteristics of the muscles of mature ewes

The effects of blade tenderization (BT) on some of the quality characterist ics of longissimus dorsi (LD) and semimembranosus (SM) muscles from the car casses of mature ewes were evaluated in this research. Values describing pa nel tenderness (P < 0.01) and residue after chewing (P < 0.05) were signifi cantly improved by BT. Also, the number of chews before swallowing was sign ificantly reduced (P < 0.01) in the tenderized samples. The LD muscle had a significantly better (P > 0.01) panel tenderness score and number of chews value than the SM muscle. BT influenced significantly (P < 0.05) the initi al yield force values of the Instron Warner-Bratzler test, which were 5.42/-0.30 kg and 6.45+/-0.42 kg for tenderized and non-tenderized samples, res pectively. Peak force and work done Values were also significantly (P < 0.0 1) affected by BT. The LD muscle had a lower peak force value (5.88 +/- 0.3 9 kg vs 7.06 +/- 0.33 kg) than the SM muscle. However, other Instron Warner -Bratzler test parameters were not significantly (P > 0.05) affected by mus cle type. The chewiness, hardness, peak force 2 and work done 2 values dete rmined by the Instron compression test were significantly affected by muscl e type. Also, BT resulted in lower values for chewiness, hardness, peak for ce 1 and 2, and work done 1 and 2 values, but the differences between tende rized and non-tenderized samples were not statistically significant (P > 0. 05).