Assessment of cattle inter-individual cluster variability: the potential of continuum data from the farm-to-fork for ultimate beef tenderness management.

BACKGROUND

This study implemented a holistic approach based on the farm-to-fork data at the four levels of the continuum (farm - slaughterhouse - muscle - meat) to study the inter-individual cluster variability of beef tenderness. For that, 171 young bulls were selected on a large database of 480 animals according to the industrial expectations based on animal and carcass characteristics. The targeted factors were age at slaughter (14; 20 months), carcass weight (370; 470 kg), EUROP conformation (7; 15) and fatness (2.5; 5) scores of the carcasses. Multivariate analyses and unsupervised learning tools were performed.

RESULTS

Principal component analysis combined to agglomerative hierarchical clustering allowed ten clusters to be identified that differed (P < 0.0001) for the four targeted factors. The clusters were further different for variables belonging to each level of the continuum. The results indicated an inter-individual cluster variability rising in tenderness in link with the continuum data grouped according to industrial expectations. The associations of the whole variables of the continuum with tenderness were very important, but farm-to-fork continuum-levels dependent. The findings showed that the variables contributing most to the inter-individual cluster variability of tenderness seemed to be more related to the rearing practices, mainly feeding, and their consequences on carcass properties rather than to the muscle characteristics evaluated by enzyme metabolism and connective tissue.

CONCLUSION

It seems that considering the continuum data would allow possible trade-off managements of tenderness to identify levers at different levels from the farm-to-meat. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.