Stress Effects on Meat Quality: A Mechanistic Perspective.

Area of Science:

• Animal Science
• Food Science
• Physiology

Background:

• Stress is a significant factor in livestock production, affecting animal welfare, carcass, and meat quality.
• Existing research on stress mechanisms influencing meat quality is fragmented, with unclear causes for trait variability.
• Understanding these mechanisms is vital for optimizing meat production and quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review primary stress factors in livestock husbandry.
• To delineate stress-induced biochemical pathways affecting meat quality.
• To identify knowledge gaps in stress-meat quality relationships.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of stress factors (heat, handling, oxidative).
• Analysis of stress-induced physiological and biochemical pathways (AMPK, calcium signaling, ROS, protein modification, apoptosis, proteolysis, HSPs).
• Synthesis of current understanding of stress effects on meat quality attributes.

Main Results:

• Identified key stress factors impacting animal welfare and meat quality.
• Outlined potential stress-induced pathways affecting postmortem biochemical changes.
• Highlighted the complex interplay of signaling pathways and mediators in stress response.

Conclusions:

• Stress significantly alters meat quality through complex biochemical pathways.
• Further research is needed to fully elucidate these mechanisms for high-quality meat production.
• Understanding stress mediators and their crosstalk is essential for improving meat quality outcomes.