Resumo

MORON-FUENMAYOR, Oneida et al. Effect of vitamin D₃ supplementation on meat quality in grazing bovine crossbred. Rev. Cient. (Maracaibo) [online]. 2008, vol.18, n.6, pp.692-698. ISSN 0798-2259.

Sixty large framed, Indicus × Continental, crossbred beef 2-year steers grazing in a tropical dry forest environment, were used to investigate the effect of supplementing diets with various levels of vitamin D3 (VITD) to provide 0, 6, and 10 million IU/(steer×d) for 8 d before slaughter on plasma (PCa) and Longissimus lumborum muscle Ca²⁺ (MCa) concentrations, texture analysis (TX), and sensorial analysis of the organoleptic qualities, in which appearance (A), odor (O), flavor (F), juiciness (J), amount of connective tissue (CT), and tenderness (T) were evaluated. Steers were slaughtered using an approved humane technique. A randomly subsample of five steers of the three individual VITD treatments (n = 15) was chosen for meat quality and palatability analyses. Following a 24-h chilling period -4°C, carcasses (a randomly selected subsample n=15) were ribbed, one strip loin of Longissimus lumborum (LL) muscle was removed from each carcass. Steaks were vacuum-packed. The data were analyzed in a completely randomized design using the General Linear Models procedures. Warner-Bratzler shear force (WB) was measured on strip loin at 7 d postmortem. Steaks for WB and sensory evaluation were thawed to 2°C. Blood plasma Ca²⁺ and muscle Ca concentration of cattle treated with VITD were higher (P < 0.01) than controls. VITD supplementation did not (P> 0.01) affect TX. Sensory traits of appearance, odor, flavor, juiciness, connective tissue, and tenderness were improved (P< 0.01) by all VITD treatments in LL steaks. Treatment with VITD will effectively improve tenderness in grazing crossbred indicus x Continental cattle in tropical conditions.

Palavras-chave : Beef; vitamin D3; tenderness; indicus × continental.