Difference in tenderness and pH decline between water buffalo meat and beef during postmortem aging

The objective of this research was to determine the difference in tenderness and some characteristics of water buffalo meat and beef during postmortem aging. Five female crossbred water-buffalo (Philippine Carabao×Bulgarian Murrah) and five female crossbred cattle (Brahman×Philippine Native), were finished on the same diet for 6 months and slaughtered at 30 months of age. The muscle pH was measured at 40min, 3h, 7h, 24h, and 48h postmortem. Longissimus thoracis (LT) and semimembranosus (SM) muscles were excised at 2d postmortem, and shear force was measured at 2, 4, 7, and 14d postmortem. Glycogen and lactate concentrations were determined from 0, 2, and 4d LT samples, and myosin heavy chain type of buffalo and cattle LT was determined by ELISA methods. Myofibrillar protein degradation was also observed by SDS-PAGE and Western blotting of fast-type troponin T. Results showed that the buffalo meat had significantly lower shear force values compared to beef for LT and SM muscles, which was supported by a difference in troponin T degradation. Postmortem pH decline of buffalo meat was significantly slower than that of beef, which was confirmed by lactic acid concentrations, but was not explained by glycogen content. In addition, there was no significant difference in the ratio of slow to fast type muscle fibers in buffalo and cattle, indicating that myosin heavy chain type was not responsible for the difference in pH decline and tenderness between the buffalo meat and beef. This study demonstrated that the tenderness of water buffalo meat was superior to that of Brahman beef, which may have been due to the difference in pH decline and the subsequent effect on muscle protease activity.