Assessment of breed type and ageing time effects on beef meat quality using two different texture devices

Forty-two male yearlings were used to assess the influence of breed type and ageing time on beef texture. Samples of the M. longissimus dorsi of four breed types [double muscled (DM), dual purpose (Brown Swiss, BS), fast growth (FG) and unimproved type (UT)] were aged for 1, 3, 7, 10, 14 or 21 days at 4°C and frozen at -18°C until analysed. Cooked samples (to end-point of 70°C) were assessed using a Warner-Bratzler (WB) device. Raw samples were assessed using a compression device in which transverse elongation was prevented. There were no significant differences in WB values of cooked meat due to breed type, but ageing had a significant (P<0.05) on maximum load. Ageing, but not breed type, had a significant effect on the compression values of raw meat at low compression rates (P<0.001). Compression values, of raw samples, at 80% compression differed significantly (P<0.001) between breed types, but were not affected by ageing. Compression values of raw samples, at 80% compression, were affected by breed type, probably because of genotype differences in the contribution of connective tissue.