Effects of a compensatory growth strategy on sensory and physical properties of meat from young bulls

The objective of the present study was to investigate the sensory properties, with special emphasis on tenderness, of meat from strategically fed young bulls (13 months of age) slaughtered when a plateau in protein turnover was observed. Twelve Holstein Friesian young bulls were divided into two feeding strategies. One group of young bulls (n = 6) were fed ad libitum throughout the rearing period (AD) whereas the second group (n = 6) was subjected to a compensatory growth feeding strategy (CO). Sensory profiling of beef longissimus dorsi (LD), semimembranosus (SM) and supraspinatus (SS) was performed in addition to physical measurements (shear force) and content of intramuscular fat of LD. The data was analysed using a regression-based multivariate data analytical strategy. In relation to predictivity of the various shear force measurement constituents for sensory texture, it was determined that a number of the responses collected (e.g. maxmm), in addition to the commonly used max(N) may be utilised to predict subtlety in the sensory texture differences of the samples (e.g. Crumbliness) with respect to compensatory feeding. Through profiling LD and SS were found to have enhanced texture and flavour properties when the young bulls were fed ad libitum during rearing. However, the SM samples were found to improve in characteristics regarding texture and appearance when the young bulls had been fed compensatorily. Thus, compensatory feeding as a texture improvement strategy proved to be highly dependant on muscle type. Of note, LD and SS were found to develop an off-flavour designated as 'steer taint' when derived from compensatory feeding. This was postulated as potentially not a problem for the consumer, in LD as the level was not significant, and in SS due to sensory masking when commonly prepared as a stew or casserole. Considering the different preparation methods used for meat from LD, SM and SS, compensatory feeding may be considered to have improved the texture and elevated the eating quality where it was most relevant, namely in SM roasts.