TITLE:
Carcass and Meat Characteristics of Bulls from Arsi, Boran, Harar and Holstein Frisian Crosses Cattle Breeds Finished under Similar Level of Concentrate Supplementation
AUTHORS:
Ahmedin Abdurehman Musa, Yesihak Yusuf Mummed, Mohammed Yusuf Kurtu, Melese Temesgen, Travis Gene O’Quinn
KEYWORDS:
Carcass pH, Meat Characteristics, Carcass Yield
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Animal Sciences,
Vol.11 No.1,
January
27,
2021
ABSTRACT: A study
was conducted to evaluate the effect of age and breeds (Arsi, Borana, HF-Cross
and Harar) on carcass and meat characteristics of bulls finished under similar
feeding conditions. The feeding experiment was conducted for 90 days at Beef
farm of Haramaya University. In this experiment, 24 bulls were fed with
roughage (60%) which contained grass hay and wheat straw and concentrate (40%)
which contained wheat bran, noug (gucia abysica) cake, maize grain, limestone, salt and ruminant
premix. The bulls were transported to Bishoftu ELFORA export abattoir for
slaughter following the procedure of the abattoir. The result of the study
revealed that the average slaughter weight, hot carcass weight, cold carcass
weight, shrink loss, commercial dressing and true dressing percentage were
179.1 kg, 86.8 kg, 82.7 kg 4.7%, 48.8% and 78.3%, respectively. Total edible
and nonedible offal were significantly (P significantly (P Boran, Harar, and HF-crossbred were 78.1%, 77%, 72.8% and 77.2% respectively. Meat yield was predicted from fat thickness and ribeye area with
61% accuracy. Arsi bulls attained the highest (78%) meat yield at early age but
decreased by 0.713 rate as age of animals advanced by one digit whereas the
meat yield from other breeds showed increment in meat yield percentage with the
rate of 1.98, 1.1 and 0.1 for cross, Borana and Harar breed bulls, respectively
as age advanced. Yield from fore shank, sirloin, top and bottom sirloin primal
cuts were affected by breed. Arsi breed had higher meat bone ration than cross
breed. Retailed meat yield was significantly (P 0.05) by age and breed in the current study.