Effect of transport stress and pre-slaughter practices on the meat quality of cattle and buffalo

Abstract

Pre-slaughter practices significantly affect the meat quality. The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of transport
stress and pre-slaughter practices on the meat quality of cattle (beef) and buffalo (carabeef). A total of 20 meat samples (cattle:
10 and buffalo: 10) were collected from Firingi Bazar Slaughterhouse of Chattogram City Corporation, Chattogram,
Bangladesh, along with the different animal information related to pre-slaughter resting at lairage, feeding, watering and fasting.
The meat quality was measured based on moisture content, pH, water holding capacity (WHC), extract release volume (ERV),
tyrosine value (TV) and total viable count (TVC).Results indicated that the transport duration did not affect the beef quality
between the two groups (≤2 hours and >2 hours). However, significant variation (p<0.05) between the two groups was found
in carabeef in terms of pH. Again, ERV and TVC values in beef varied significantly (p<0.05) for the difference in resting period
between the two groups (≤12 hours and >12 hours), whereas all parameters of carabeef quality were not significantly different
(p>0.05) between the groups. The feed withdrawal period (groups: ≤12 hours and >12 hours) and water withdrawal period
(groups: ≤6 hours and >6 hours) did not affect the beef and carabeef quality (p>0.05). Overall, the study revealed that the
transport duration in buffalo and the resting period in cattle affect the meat quality significantly. To ensure better meat quality the
pre-slaughter management of the animals should be efficient.