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Updated: May 27, 2026

Exploring the Longissimus Muscle: Unraveling its Correlation with Meat Quality in Bos indicus and Crossbred Bulls
Published on: July 12, 2024
Palatability of beef from bulls administered exogenous hormones
S D Shackelford1, J W Savell, J D Crouse
1Department of Animal Science, Meat Science Section, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-2471, USA.
Abstract:
One-hundred and forty four weanling bulls of Angus (A, n = 48), Simmental x Hereford (SH, n = 48) and Simmental (S, n = 48) breeding were either castrated, left intact, left intact and implanted with Ralgro or left intact and implanted with Synovex S. Cattle were slaughtered after either 190, 246 or 315 days of high-energy feeding, and the right side of each carcass was electrically stimulated. Sensory analysis was conducted on longissimus dorsi steaks after 5 days aging and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBS) was measured after 5, 10 and 15 days aging. Steers had lower (P < 0·05) WBS and more desirable sensory panel scores for juiciness, ease of fragmentation, amount of connective tissue and overall tenderness than all intact treatments. The implanting of weanling bulls with synthetic steroid hormone compounds did not make a practical improvement in beef tenderness.
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