Correlation among serum biochemical indices and slaughter traits, texture characteristics and water-holding capacity of Tan sheep

Figures & data

Table 1. The composition of serum biochemical indices, slaughter performance, texture characteristics and water holding capacity of eighty Tan sheep.

Serum biochemical indices	Acronym	Mean	SD	Max	Min	CV（%）
Alanine aminotransferase (U/L)	ALT	15.53	14.27	111.50	2.50	91.89
Aspartate aminotransferase (U/L)	AST	213.34	511.03	3407.00	58.90	239.54
Glutamyl Transpeptidase (U/L)	GT	75.02	34.43	225.60	41.50	45.89
Total Bile Acid (umol/L)	TBA	28.96	37.43	286.80	2.10	129.25
Acetylcholinesterase (U/L)	CHE	101.75	45.03	155.00	17.00	44.26
Prealbumin (mg/L)	PA	43.05	14.82	71.50	18.00	34.43
Total Protein (g/L)	TP	63.93	7.16	81.80	46.60	11.20
Albumin (g/L)	ALB	34.87	5.18	43.80	21.80	14.86
Globulin (g/L)	GLB	28.94	4.39	41.50	20.40	15.17
Total Bilirubin (umol/L)	TBIL	2.00	1.75	12.38	0.02	87.50
Direct Bilirubin (umol/L)	DBIL	0.48	0.62	4.35	−0.15	129.17
Indirect Bilirubin (umol/L)	IBIL	1.54	1.40	8.03	−1.47	90.91
Glucose (mmol/L)	GLU	6.53	2.83	15.95	1.29	43.34
Triglyceride (mmol/L)	TG	0.22	0.11	0.60	0.07	50.00
Total Cholesterol (mmol/L)	TC	1.75	0.56	4.27	0.44	32.00
High-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (mmol/L)	HDL-C	0.67	0.18	1.03	0.06	26.87
Low-density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (mmol/L)	LDL-C	0.38	0.18	1.16	0.14	47.37
Alkaline Phosphatase (U/L)	ALP	150.61	184.78	912.40	0.10	122.69
Indices of meat qualities	Units	Means	SD	Max	Min	CV（%）
Slaughter performance
Carcase body weight	Kg	17.99	1.96	22.90	13.70	10.89
Hind leg weight	G	293.65	85.82	495.60	45.60	29.23
Lean meat rate	%	0.40	0.05	0.62	0.25	12.50
Fat percentage	%	0.25	0.06	0.43	0.07	24.00
Bone rate	%	0.25	0.05	0.40	0.03	20.00
Longissimus dorsi weight	G	205.50	38.39	305.70	110.00	18.68
Texture characteristics
Hardness	G	4,563.56	3,140.65	1,9057.34	309.28	68.82
Resilience (%)	%	24.81	8.23	59.60	11.37	33.17
Springiness (%)	%	65.02	8.73	81.87	49.04	13.43
Cohesiveness (%)	%	0.48	0.07	0.67	0.22	14.58
Gumminess	–	2,270.69	1,718.48	9,449.71	148.27	75.68
Chewiness	–	1,531.00	1,275.14	7,506.47	96.25	83.29
Adhesiveness	–	−129.16	51.08	3.63	−264.00	−39.55
Water holding capacity
Drip loss	%	0.019	0.022	0.167	0.001	115.789
Cooking loss	%	0.283	0.052	0.382	0.136	18.375

Table 2. The correlation and regression analysis between serum biochemical indices and slaughter performance of eighty Tan sheep.

Serum indices	Lipid content	Lean meat rate	Carcase body weight	Hind leg weight	Bone rate	Longissimus dorsi weight
ALT (U/L)
Pearson	0.266^a	0.023	−0.065	−0.204	−0.063	0.217
Sig. (T)	0.017	0.841	0.565	0.070	0.580	0.053
AST (U/L)
Pearson	0.227^a	−0.010	−0.155	−0.173	0.005	0.047
Sig. (T)	0.043	0.930	0.171	0.124	0.964	0.681
GT (U/L)
Pearson	0.124	−0.119	−0.171	−0.320^b	0.097	−0.057
Sig. (T)	0.274	0.291	0.129	0.004	0.393	0.615
TBA (umol/L)
Pearson	0.265^a	−0.110	−0.034	−0.107	−0.067	−0.010
Sig. (T)	0.018	0.332	0.764	0.345	0.552	0.930
CHE (U/L)
Pearson	−0.180	0.257^a	0.204	0.656^b	−0.037	−0.049
Sig. (T)	0.110	0.022	0.069	0	0.747	0.664
PA (mg/L)
Pearson	−0.140	0.221^a	0.181	0.561^b	−0.042	−0.056
Sig. (T)	0.215	0.049	0.108	0	0.712	0.621
TP (g/L)
Pearson	0.345^b	−0.052	0.011	−0.362^b	−0.031	0.192
Sig. (T)	0.002	0.649	0.924	0.001	0.785	0.088
ALB (g/L)
Pearson	0.355^b	0.019	0.177	−0.213	−0.127	0.496^b
Sig. (T)	0.001	0.868	0.117	0.057	0.263	0
GLB (g/L)
Pearson	0.088	−0.079	−0.254^a	−0.345^b	0.128	−0.269^a
Sig. (T)	0.439	0.488	0.023	0.002	0.258	0.016
A / G
Pearson	0.219	0.024	0.374^b	0.100	−0.200	0.587^b
Sig. (T)	0.051	0.830	0.001	0.377	0.076	0
TBIL (umol/L)
Pearson	−0.149	−0.103	−0.298^b	−0.020	0.270^a	−0.383^b
Sig. (T)	0.186	0.362	0.007	0.858	0.015	0
IBIL (umol/L)
Pearson	−0.284^a	−0.069	−0.321^b	0.046	0.302^b	−0.459^b
Sig. (T)	0.011	0.546	0.004	0.684	0.007	0
GLU (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.069	0.117	0.154	0.113	−0.048	0.229^a
Sig. (T)	0.544	0.301	0.172	0.320	0.676	0.041
TG (mmol/L)
Pearson	−0.403^b	0.226^a	−0.251^a	0.211	0.022	−0.187
Sig. (T)	0	0.044	0.025	0.061	0.846	0.097
TC (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.251^a	−0.104	0.129	−0.293^b	−0.107	0.303^b
Sig. (T)	0.025	0.357	0.253	0.008	0.345	0.006
HDL-C (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.361^b	−0.084	0.304^b	−0.106	−0.293^b	0.381^b
Sig. (T)	0.001	0.458	0.006	0.351	0.008	0
LDL-C (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.184	−0.096	−0.038	−0.430^b	−0.037	0.204
Sig. (T)	0.102	0.398	0.740	0	0.743	0.070
Slaughter performance	R	F	Sig	Regression equations
Lipidid content	0.588	4.119	0.000	Y1=0.18 + 0.001X1−1.814 × 10^−5X2 +0.001X4+0.001X7−1.876 × 10^−5X8−0.01X12 −0.137X14−0.014X15+0.054X16
Lean meat rate	0.272	2.030	1.117	Y2=0.372 + 0.057X14
Carcase body weight	0.540	5.017	0.000	Y3=17.688 − 0.065X9−0.807X10+0.851X12 −5.136X14+1.976X16+1.859X19
Hind leg weight	0.684	9.065	0.000	Y4=216.233 − 0.133X3+1.593X5−1.741X6+1.308X7 −2.415X9+15.909X15−108.578X17
Bone rate	0.364	3.859	0.013	Y5=0.28 + 0.005X10+0.002X12−0.067X16
Longissimus dorsi weight	0.671	7.271	0.000	Y6=105.916 + 1.329X8−0.671X9−6.451X10 +1.086X12−0.289X13+15.546X15−8.001X16+51.883X19

^a represents the confidence (T) is 0.05, and the correlation is significant.

^b represents the confidence (T) is 0.01, and the correlation is extremely significant.

Y_1, Y_2, Y_3, Y_4, Y₅ and Y₆ are lipid content, lean meat rate, carcase body weight, hind leg weight, bone rate and longissimus dorsi weight, respectively; X₁, X₂, X₃, X₄, X₅, X₆, X₇, X₈, X₉, X₁₀, X₁₂, X₁₃, X₁₄, X₁₅, X₁₆, X₁₇ and X₁₉ are ALT, AST, GT, TBA, CHE, PA, TP, ALB, GLB, TBIL, IBIL, GLU, TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C and A/G, respectively.

Table 3. The correlation and regression analysis between serum biochemical indices and texture characteristics of eighty Tan sheep.

Serum indices	Hardness	Springiness	Gumminess	Chewiness	Adhesiveness	Resilience	Cohesiveness
ALT (U/L)
Pearson	0.023	0.171	–0.237^a	0.102	0.075	0.006	0.175
Sig. (T)	0.839	0.13	0.034	0.369	0.506	0.959	0.121
AST (U/L)
Pearson	−0.004	0.336^b	−0.334^b	0.138	0.064	0.119	0.346^b
Sig. (T)	0.97	0.002	0.002	0.224	0.571	0.295	0.002
ALP (U/L)
Pearson	0.047	−0.285^a	0.363^b	−0.026	0.029	−0.005	−0.134
Sig. (T)	0.681	0.01	0.001	0.818	0.796	0.968	0.237
GT (U/L)
Pearson	0.231^a	0.213	−0.1	0.267^a	0.237^a	0.359^b	0.271^a
Sig. (T)	0.039	0.058	0.379	0.017	0.034	0.001	0.015
CHE (U/L)
Pearson	−0.442^b	−0.343^b	0.229^a	−0.462^b	−0.447^b	−0.436^b	−0.418^b
Sig. (T)	0	0.002	0.041	0	0	0	0
PA (mg/L)
Pearson	−0.390^b	−0.327^b	0.104	−0.419^b	−0.394^b	−0.397^b	−0.334^b
Sig. (T)	0	0.003	0.358	0	0	0	0.003
TP (g/L)
Pearson	0.149	0.485^b	−0.282^a	0.275^a	0.214	0.287^b	0.497^b
Sig. (T)	0.189	0	0.011	0.013	0.057	0.01	0
ALB (g/L)
Pearson	0.114	0.532^b	−0.293^b	0.240^a	0.179	0.256^a	0.502^b
Sig. (T)	0.313	0	0.008	0.032	0.113	0.022	0
A / G
Pearson	−0.133	0.308^b	−0.098	−0.041	−0.095	−0.009	0.222^a
Sig. (T)	0.24	0.005	0.389	0.719	0.401	0.934	0.048
TBIL (umol/L)
Pearson	−0.036	−0.230*	−0.042	−0.089	−0.038	−0.092	−0.155
Sig. (T)	0.751	0.04	0.712	0.433	0.738	0.415	0.171
DBIL (umol/L)
Pearson	0.174	0.249^a	−0.15	0.208	0.209	0.255^a	0.312^b
Sig. (T)	0.124	0.026	0.184	0.064	0.063	0.023	0.005
IBIL (umol/L)
Pearson	−0.124	−0.321^b	0.034	−0.202	−0.137	−0.196	−0.290^b
Sig. (T)	0.275	0.004	0.769	0.074	0.228	0.084	0.01
TG (mmol/L)
Pearson	−0.191	−0.225^a	0.054	−0.261^a	−0.223^a	−0.257^a	−0.322^b
Sig. (T)	0.09	0.045	0.634	0.019	0.046	0.022	0.004
TC (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.185	0.244^a	−0.272^a	0.254^a	0.222^a	0.213	0.311^b
Sig. (T)	0.101	0.029	0.015	0.023	0.048	0.058	0.005
HDL-C (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.107	0.268^a	−0.301^b	0.186	0.138	0.138	0.264^a
Sig. (T)	0.345	0.016	0.007	0.099	0.223	0.222	0.018
LDL-C (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.263^a	0.299^b	−0.207	0.333^b	0.309^b	0.295^b	0.408^b
Sig. (T)	0.018	0.007	0.066	0.003	0.005	0.008	0
Texture characteristics	R	F	Sig	Regression equations
Hardness	0.479	5.583	0.001	Y7=6670.155 − 1.28X3−37.991X5+27.928X6+1716.222X17
Springiness	0.681	4.026	0.000	Y8=49.601 − 0.001X2−0.021X5−0.136X6−0.064X7+0.734X8 −0.55X10+3.759X11+0.211X12+8.262X14−4.099X15 +10.123X16−0.39X17−0.01X18+1.149X19
Gumminess	0.409	1.785	0.094	Y9= −1362.337 + 27.794X1 −1.188X2+10.706X3+13.065X7+21.358X8 +1065.646X15−1223.934X16+0.174X18
Chewiness	0.557	3.996	0.001	Y10=3481.269 − 0.485X3−16.383X5+9.479X6−32.896X7 +32.111X8−976.741X14+220.985X15+405.655X17
Adhesiveness	0.292	1.135	0.351	Y11= −119.415 − 0.132X3+0.389X5−0.441X6 −25.599X14−12.192X15+16.892X17
Resilience	0.491	2.812	0.009	Y12=33.246 − 0.005X3−0.089X5+0.078X6−0.178X7 +0.205X8+0.731X11−5.916X14+7.603X17
Cohesiveness	0.633	3.387	0.001	Y13=0.42 − 6.334 × 10^−6X2−7.639 × 10^−6X3 −0.001X5+0.002X6−0.002X7+0.008X8+0.015X11−5.96410^−5X12 −0.029X14+0.045X15−0.108X16−0.058X17−0.016X19

^a represents the confidence (T) is 0.05, and the correlation is significant.

^b represents the confidence (T) is 0.01, and the correlation is extremely significant.

Y₇, Y₈, Y₉, Y₁₀, Y₁₁, Y₁₂ and Y₁₃ are hardness, springiness, gumminess, chewiness, adhesiveness, resilience and cohesiveness, respectively; X₁, X₂, X₃, X₅, X₆, X₇, X₈, X₁₀, X₁₁, X₁₂, X₁₄, X₁₅, X₁₆, X₁₇, X₁₈ and X₁₉ are ALT, AST, GT, CHE, PA, TP, ALB, TBIL, DBIL, IBIL, TG, TC, HDL-C, LDL-C, ALP and A/G, respectively.

Table 4. The correlation and regression analysis between serum biochemical indices and water holding capacity of eighty Tan sheep.

serum indices	Drip loss	Cooking loss
GT (U/L)
Pearson	0.072	−0.387^b
Sig. (T)	0.526	0.000
CHE (U/L)
Pearson	−0.111	0.544^b
Sig. (T)	0.327	0.000
PA (mg/L)
Pearson	−0.045	0.443^b
Sig. (T)	0.690	0.000
TP (g/L)
Pearson	−0.205	−0.426^b
Sig. (T)	0.068	0.000
ALB (g/L)
Pearson	−0.204	−0.291^b
Sig. (T)	0.070	0.009
GLB (g/L)
Pearson	−0.058	−0.358^b
Sig. (T)	0.609	0.001
DBIL (umol/L)
Pearson	−0.090	−0.302^b
Sig. (T)	0.429	0.006
TG (mmol/L)
Pearson	0.088^a	0.260^a
Sig. (T)	0.438	0.020
TC (mmol/L)
Pearson	−0.030	−0.235^a
Sig. (T)	0.793	0.035
LDL-C (mmol/L)
Pearson	−0.058	−0.285^a
Sig. (T)	0.611	0.010
Water holding capacity	R	F	Sig	Regression equations
Drip loss	0.079	0.494	0.484	Y14=0.015 + 0.016X14
Cooking loss	0.640	4.798	0.000	Y15=0.357 − 8.94 × 10^-5X3+0.001X5-0.002X6+0.004X7 −0.005X8−0.006X9−0.025X11−0.044X14−0.005X15+0.049X17

^a represents the confidence (T) is 0.05, and the correlation is significant.

^b represents the confidence (T) is 0.01, and the correlation is extremely significant.

Y₁₄ and Y₁₅ are drip loss and cooking loss, respectively; X₃, X₅, X₆, X₇, X₈, X₉, X₁₁, X₁₄, X₁₅ and X₁₇ are GT, CHE, PA, TP, ALB, GLB, DBIL, TG, TC and LDL-C, respectively.

Table 5. The correlation among slaughter performance, texture characteristics and water binding capacity of eighty Tan sheep.

	Hind leg weight	Carcase body weight	Lean meat rate	Fat percentage	Bone rate	Longissimus dorsi weight	Cooking loss	Hardness	Adhesiveness	Resilience	Cohesion	Springiness	Gumminess	Chewiness
Hind leg weight
Pearson	1	0.356^b	0.199	0.029	−0.12	0.161	0.386^b	−0.387^b	0.096	−0.433^b	−0.341^b	−0.224^a	−0.386^b	−0.382^b
Sig. (T)	0	0.001	0.076	0.8	0.29	0.153	0	0	0.395	0	0.002	0.046	0	0
Carcase body weight
Pearson	0.356^b	1	−0.151	0.467^b	−0.428^b	0.547^b	0.158	−0.143	−0.002	−0.215	−0.08	−0.097	−0.126	−0.103
Sig. (T)	0.001	0	0.182	0	0	0	0.162	0.207	0.988	0.055	0.48	0.394	0.264	0.363
Lean meat rate
Pearson	0.199	−0.151	1	−0.264^a	0.038	0.279^a	0.219	−0.053	0.173	−0.109	−0.056	−0.043	−0.047	−0.06
Sig. (T)	0.076	0.182	0	0.018	0.739	0.012	0.051	0.641	0.126	0.335	0.621	0.704	0.679	0.599
Fat percentage
Pearson	0.029	0.467^b	−0.264^a	1	−0.477^b	0.360^b	−0.015	−0.119	−0.273^a	−0.099	0.073	0.226^a	−0.07	−0.024
Sig. (T)	0.8	0	0.018	0	0	0.001	0.896	0.292	0.014	0.383	0.522	0.044	0.538	0.831
Bone rate
Pearson	−0.12	−0.428^b	0.038	−0.477^b	1	−0.318^b	−0.218	0.164	0.066	0.158	0.061	−0.118	0.146	0.106
Sig. (T)	0.29	0	0.739	0	0	0.004	0.053	0.146	0.563	0.16	0.59	0.295	0.197	0.348
Longissimus dorsi weight
Pearson	0.161	0.547^b	0.279^a	0.360^b	−0.318^b	1	0.042	−0.028	−0.103	−0.062	0.199	0.304^b	0.052	0.097
Sig. (T)	0.153	0	0.012	0.001	0.004	0	0.715	0.808	0.365	0.587	0.077	0.006	0.649	0.39
Cooking loss
Pearson	0.386^b	0.158	0.219	−0.015	−0.218	0.042	1	−0.366^b	0.095	−0.375^b	−0.365^b	−0.271^a	−0.380^b	−0.401^b
Sig. (T)	0	0.162	0.051	0.896	0.053	0.715	0	0.001	0.404	0.001	0.001	0.015	0.001	0
Hardness
Pearson	−0.387^b	−0.143	−0.053	−0.119	0.164	−0.028	−0.366^b	1	0.082	0.662^b	0.395^b	0.139	0.977^b	0.962^b
Sig. (T)	0	0.207	0.641	0.292	0.146	0.808	0.001	0	0.471	0	0	0.219	0	0
Adhesiveness
Pearson	0.096	−0.002	0.173	−0.273^a	0.066	−0.103	0.095	0.082	1	0.214	−0.077	−0.462^b	0.041	−0.016
Sig. (T)	0.395	0.988	0.126	0.014	0.563	0.365	0.404	0.471	0	0.057	0.496	0	0.72	0.887
Resilience
Pearson	−0.433^b	−0.215	−0.109	−0.099	0.158	−0.062	−0.375^b	0.662^b	0.214	1	0.701^b	0.199	0.728^b	0.714^b
Sig. (T)	0	0.055	0.335	0.383	0.16	0.587	0.001	0	0.057	0	0	0.077	0	0
Cohesion
Pearson	−0.341^b	−0.08	−0.056	0.073	0.061	0.199	−0.365^b	0.395^b	−0.077	0.701^b	1	0.455^b	0.526^b	0.538^b
Sig. (T)	0.002	0.48	0.621	0.522	0.59	0.077	0.001	0	0.496	0	0	0	0	0
Springiness
Pearson	−0.224^a	−0.097	−0.043	0.226^a	−0.118	0.304^b	−0.271^a	0.139	−0.462^b	0.199	0.455^b	1	0.196	0.305^b
Sig. (T)	0.046	0.394	0.704	0.044	0.295	0.006	0.015	0.219	0	0.077	0	0	0.082	0.006
Gumminess
Pearson	−0.386^b	−0.126	−0.047	−0.07	0.146	0.052	−0.380^b	0.977^b	0.041	0.728^b	0.526^b	0.196	1	0.987^b
Sig. (T)	0	0.264	0.679	0.538	0.197	0.649	0.001	0	0.72	0	0	0.082	0	0
Chewiness
Pearson	−0.382^b	−0.103	−0.06	−0.024	0.106	0.097	−0.401^b	0.962^b	−0.016	0.714^b	0.538^b	0.305^b	0.987^b	1
Sig. (T)	0	0.363	0.599	0.831	0.348	0.39	0	0	0.887	0	0	0.006	0	0

^a represents the confidence (T) is 0.05, and the correlation is significant.

^b represents the confidence (T) is 0.01, and the correlation is extremely significant.

Data availability statement

The data that supports the findings of this study are available in all tables of this article.