Food Research Institute

Gondeková, M. – Bahelka, I. – Pavlík, I. – Huba, J. – Tomka, J. – Polák, P.
Carcass and meat quality of the most numerous slaughtered cow breeds in Slovakia
Journal of Food and Nutrition Research, 59, 2020, No. 1, s. 44-50

Martina Gondeková, Department for Animal Husbandry Systems, Breeding and Product Quality, National Agricultural and Food Centre – Research Institute for Animal Production Nitra, Hlohovecká 2, 95141 Lužianky, Slovakia. E-mail: martina.gondekova@nppc.sk

Received 11 November 2019; 1st revised 1 February 2020; accepted 20 February 2020; published online 25 February 2020

Summary: The objective of this study was to compare the quality of cow carcasses and meat of three most slaughtered breeds in Slovakia: Black Holstein (BH, n = 119) and Red Holstein (RH, n = 86), and Slovak Simmental (SS, n = 83). A total of 288 samples of meat were collected randomly from cows from various slaughterhouses in Slovakia. All animals were fed the Total Mixed Ration diet year round. At slaughter, the cows were 2094.40 ± 928.07 days old. Higly significant differences were found in the age (p < 0.001). At slaughter, SS cows were 18 months older than RH and 23 months older than BH. SS showed the highest score of carcass conformation (1.58 ± 0.59), the differences in carcass conformation being statistically significant (p < 0.05). Meat quality showed statistically significant differences among the breeds in content of proteins (p < 0.01), fat (p < 0.05) and in Warner-Bratzler shear force of grilled meat (p < 0.001). The highest content of proteins (24.5 %) was determined in RH and the highest content of fat was determined in BH (4.2 %). In the SS group, meat was characterized by a higher level of shear force (19.55 kg). SS had the lightest colour of meat (L* = 30.26).

Keywords: carcass; meat; quality; culled cows; Holstein; Simmental

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