Journal of Animal Science, Vol 68, Issue 12 4206-4220, Copyright © 1990 by American Society of Animal Science

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Mechanisms associated with the variation in tenderness of meat from Brahman and Hereford cattle

T. L. Wheeler, J. W. Savell, H. R. Cross, D. K. Lunt and S. B. Smith
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843-2471.

To study possible mechanisms for differences in meat tenderness, 10 purebred Hereford and 10 American Grey Brahman steers were fed a typical feedlot diet and slaughtered when ultrasound measurements indicated that they had approximately 1 cm of fat thickness at the 12th rib. Longissimus muscle from Brahman cattle was less (P less than .05) tender after 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 d postmortem than muscle from Hereford cattle, but muscle from Hereford cattle showed greater improvement in tenderness from 7 to 14 d postmortem than muscle from Brahman cattle (interaction P less than .05). Cathepsin B or cathepsin B+L activities and the myofibrillar response to elevated ionic strength were not different between breeds, but both could be related to the postmortem increase in tenderness of both breeds. Calcium-dependent protease activity, as modulated by calcium-dependent protease inhibitor, seems to play a major role in the inherent tenderness differences between breeds.

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