Exploring rearing factors to predict potential sensory quality of heifer meat throughout the farm-to-fork continuum

Abstract

Sensory beef qualities could be impacted throughout the farm-to-fork continuum. The aim of this work was to predict the sensory quality classes of Longissimus muscle established from three sensory descriptors: tenderness, juiciness and flavour intensity. The extreme classes of meat quality were: Q + class including the highest scores for tenderness and juiciness, and an intermediate score for flavour intensity and Q − class including low scores for tenderness, juiciness and flavour intensity. To predict the extreme quality classes, seven decision trees were performed using the individual data related to rearing factors (p = 50), carcase traits (p = 13) and/or aged meat traits (p = 9) of 100 Charolais heifers. The decision trees established from rearing factors and carcass trait data (RF-CARCA-Tree) allowed the highest accuracy of prediction (79.7%) with 90.7% and 66.7% of correctly classified individuals, respectively. Our results showed that different combinations of factors could produce Q + class. Three rearing factors (i.e. the calculated average of concentrates’ net energy content in the diet during the pasture period of pre-weaning period (PWP); the number of days concentrates were offered in calf diet during PWP; and the calculated average of concentrates’ crude protein content in the fattening diet) and the conformation score could be considered as action levers to improve meat quality. These three rearing factors were related to the pre-weaning and fattening periods of the heifer, slowing a possible management of the potential beef quality from rearing factors throughout the life of the heifer.

Highlights

• Beef quality can be improved throughout the heifer’s life by rearing factors related to concentrate in the diet.

• Sensory beef quality classes could be managed from rearing factors and carcass traits.

• Raw aged meat data did not allow to improve the prediction of sensory beef quality classes.

Keywords:

• Rearing factors
• carcass traits
• beef
• decision tree
• whole life

Acknowledgements

The authors thank all farmers who participated at this work, the staff of the four breeding cooperatives (FEDER, SICABA, SICAGIEB and SICAREV), and the staff of the four slaughterhouses (Puigrenier, SICABA, SICAREV and SOCOPA). The authors also thank the INRAE and VetAgro Sup staffs for the meat samples preparation and sensory analyses. Finally, the authors would like to thank the other partners implicated in the project: ARIA Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, la Chambre Régionale d’Agriculture Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and la Coopération Agricole Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

Author contributions

Valérie Monteils: funding acquisition, project administration, supervision, conceptualisation, formal analysis, validation, methodology, writing-original draft and writing-review and editing. Brigitte Picard: funding acquisition, project administration and supervision. Julien Soulat: data curation, project administration, resources, writing-original draft and writing-review and editing.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [VM], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was financed by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (convention Massif central), the French government IDEX-ISITE initiative 16-IDEX-0001 (CAP 20-25) and the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food.