Muscle profiling: Characterizing the muscle of Brazilian cattle breed “Crioulo Lageano”

The “Crioulo Lageano” cattle ( Bos taurus), is a breed native to Brazil, with herds concentr ated in the Lages city, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. The adverse con diti s with cold winters and poor vegetation devel op d a breed adapted to the ecological conditions of this region. However, commercial breeds such as Nellore, gradually replaced the native breeds to the point t ha cattle “Crioulo Lageano” almost disappear. In t his way studies have been conducted both for genetic conser vation, the characteristics of meat quality. The pu rpose of this work was to comparing six cuts of commercial m eat (filet steak, round, loin, rib, heel and filet) of “Criolo Lageano” and Nellore cattle. Chemical composition, color, and weight ratio muscle/carcass were determi ned. Twenty animals male (10 Nellore and 10 "Crioulo Lag e no") castrated and 18 months old were studied. Th e different cuts were chemical analysed in FURG Unive rsity, Brazil. The samples were finely chopped, mix ed thoroughly and analysed in the duplicated to determ ine their chemical composition. Moisture (oven at 1 05°C), protein (Kjeldahl method, factor 6.25) were determi ned according to AOAC, (1995) and fat determined by Bligh Dyer, (1959). Instrumental color (CIE L*, a*, b* for Illuminat A) was evaluated using Minolta DC 300 Spectrophotometer. The results shown there is no si gnificant difference observed (0.05) in the fresh c arcass weight, hell, filet and subcutaneous fat of Nellore and “Crioulo Lageano”. The biggest statistical dif ference was observed in relation to weight of loin (p=0,001 68) and rib (p=0,000144). The chemistry composition shown significative diference (p ≥0,05) between two breed. In addition, the parameter s L*, a*, and b* were higher values for the “Crioulo Lageano” than Nellor e muscle. The final ∆E* range from 3.36 to 7.86 for different muscle studied, confirming a noticeable v isual difference between Nellore and “Criolo lagean o” muscle. Characterizing the muscle of “Criolo Lagean o” shown darker meat than Nellore cattle.