Slaughtering traits and meat quality of Cinisara cattle, a native Italian breed

Abstract

The aim of our study was to make an initial contribution to carcass traits and meat quality for typing and product certification, using sixteen male (M) and twelve female (F) Cinisara cattle, a native Italian breed. The animals were sampled in the most representative farms of the Consortium of Cinisara breed. Carcass traits of the Cinisara males showed significantly higher carcass weight and SEUROP scores in comparison to the females, while similar values were observed for fatness scores. As regards meat quality, lightness (M 44.90 vs F 43.25), redness index (M 18.03 vs F 17.86), hue angle (M 21.71 vs F 23.76), cooking losses (M 24.44% vs F 24.98%), tenderness (M 3.36 kg/cm2 vs F 3.41 kgf/cm2), protein (M 22.58% vs F 21.84%) and fat (M 1.88% vs F 2.63%) showed no significant differences between males and females. No data are available in the literature for Cinisara cattle; therefore, our results may be considered as an original set of knowledge useful for the salvage of this endangered, local, native breed.

Keywords

• Cinisara cattle
• Carcass traits
• Meat qualit