Eléménts de maîtrise de la couleur des viandes chez les bovins de race Charolaise

Abstract

Red colour is a major meat quality trait of beef that can be improved by different factors. The purpose of this study was to review the impact of diets during the finishing stage on meat colour of Charolais cattle.

The influence of the finishing stage based on beet pulp and corn silage was evaluated on the colour of the carcasses of 233 cows and on the colour of the longissimus thoracis muscle (LT) of 200 bull calves. The impact of beet pulp during the finishing stage was assessed on the rectus abdominis muscle (RA) of 40 heifers. The influence of the finishing mode (barn or pasture) was studied on the RA muscle of 99 heifers.

When animals were fattened in the barn during the finishing period, the muscles were clearer than when they were finished on pasture. Beet pulp during finishing stage tended to reduce the proportion of «clear» carcasses in comparison to corn silage. The luminance was not significantly different between these two ways of finishing the animals but beet pulp seemed to provide muscles with higher red and yellow indexes.