Foods (Apr 2021)

Effect of Feeding Barley, Corn, and a Barley/Corn Blend on Beef Composition and End-Product Palatability

  • Wilson Barragán-Hernández,
  • Michael E. R. Dugan,
  • Jennifer L. Aalhus,
  • Gregory Penner,
  • Payam Vahmani,
  • Óscar López-Campos,
  • Manuel Juárez,
  • José Segura,
  • Liliana Mahecha-Ledesma,
  • Nuria Prieto

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/foods10050977
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 5
p. 977

Abstract

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This study evaluated the relationship among palatability attributes, volatile compounds, and fatty acid (FA) profiles in meat from barley, corn, and blended (50:50, barley and corn) grain-fed steers. Multiple correspondence analysis with three dimensions (Dim) explained 62.2% of the total variability among samples. The Dim 1 and 2 (53.3%) separated pure from blended grain-fed beef samples. Blended grain beef was linked to a number of volatiles including (E,E)-2,4-decadienal, hexanal, 1-octen-3-ol, and 2,3-octanedione. In addition, blended grain-fed beef was linked to fat-like and rancid flavors, stale-cardboard, metallic, cruciferous, and fat-like aroma descriptors, and negative categories for flavor intensity (FI), off-flavor, and tenderness. A possible combination of linoleic and linolenic acids in the blended diet, lower rumen pH, and incomplete biohydrogenation of blended grain-fed polyunsaturates could have increased (p ≤ 0.05) long-chain n-6 fatty acids (LCFA) in blended grain-fed beef, leading to more accumulation of FA oxidation products in the blended than in barley and corn grain-fed meat samples. The Dim 3 (8.9%) allowed corn separation from barley grain beef. Barley grain-fed beef was mainly linked to alkanes and beef positive FI, whereas corn grain-fed beef was associated with pyrazines, in addition to aldehydes related to n-6 LCFA oxidation.

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