Quality Characteristics of Bovine Meat. I. Content of Connective Tissue in Relation to Individual Muscles, Age and Sex of Animals and Carcass Quality Grade

The content of connective tissue was determined in seven muscles of 80 bovine carcasses, in relation to age and sex of animals and post-slaughter carcass grade, by the hydroxy-proline and the histometric methods. Among the seven muscles, differences in connective tissue were large and significant. No consistent change in level of connective tissue was associated with the age of animals. In the individual muscles the influence of age was either nonsignificant or if significant, was not consistent between age groups. Generally the influence of sex of animals on the content of connective tissue was not significant. In the histometric determination of connective tissue in design I the combined means were higher in males than in females. Grade differences relative to connective tissue content were evident for data in design I in both the hydroxyproline and the histometric methods, with grade II having higher connective tissue content. The correlation of all means determined by the hydroxy-proline and histometric methods was r = .69, and was significant (P<.01).