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Published on: August 15, 2018
Stable isotope analysis of cattle tail hair: a potential tool for verifying the geographical origin of beef
Xiaoling Liu1, Boli Guo, Yimin Wei
1Institute of Agro-Products Processing Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Comprehensive Key Laboratory of Agro-Products Processing, Ministry of Agriculture, P.O. Box 5109, Beijing 100193, People's Republic of China. lxl2580394@hotmail.com
Abstract:
Stable isotope ratios of cattle tail hair were investigated for their potential to classify beef from different regions in China. The δ(13)C, δ(15)N and δ(2)H values in 167 cattle tail hair samples from 7 sampling subregions belonging to four beef production regions were measured by IRMS. Variance analysis and linear discriminant analysis (LDA) were employed for this purpose. The results showed that significant differences existed in δ(13)C, δ(15)N and δ(2)H values of tail hair among different sampling regions. An overall correct classification rate of 82.6% and cross-validation rate of 79.6% were obtained for the four beef production regions based on δ(13)C, δ(15)N and δ(2)H values, compared to 70.7% and 70.1% for the seven sampling subregions. These results demonstrated the potential usefulness of stable isotope analysis of cattle tail hair for establishing beef traceability database.
