Meat quality and muscles characteristics of feedlot and grazing swamp buffaloes

I. Dahlan. O. Abu Hassan and M.H.I. Sukri

Abstract

The meat of swamp buffalo fed on an oil palm by-products (OPBP) diet showed lower W-B shear force value and a lower cooking loss than meat from pasture-fed animal. Muscle pH of buffalo meat is around 5.6 to 5.9. The highest marbling score was found in muscles from the OPBP diet. This study indicated that increased marbling improved the tenderness of buffalo meat. The Longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle colour of pasture-fed buffalo meat was slightly darker than that of OPBP-fed meat. The pooled mean values between muscles showed that cooking loss was the highest in Semitendinouas (ST) muscle and least in the Gluteus medius (GM) muscle. ST muscle was the brightest and the reddest while LD muscle was the darkest and the greyest. Psoas major (PM) muscle had the lowest intramuscular fat content and also the most tender meat. On the other hand, ST muscles was the toughest meat. All buffalo muscles in this study showed normal and acceptable meat quality, especially meat from feedlot animals fed on oil palm by-products.

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