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Abstract
The effects on postmortem muscle biochemistry of feeding regimes, resulting in weight gain, weight maintenance, and weight loss, were investigated on one group of lambs and the effects of short-term starvation and water deprivation for 67 h were investigated on another group of lambs. There were no significant differences in the initial or ultimate pH, glycogen, lactate, or ATP among the 3 groups on different planes of nutrition. The most obvious effect of electrical stimulation was the initial fall in pH and the increased subsequent rate of pH fall. On electrical stimulation the lactate level increased by 20 μol/g, the glycogen levels decreased by 10 nmol/g, and the ATP levels decreased by 2 μol/g. There was no significant difference in ultimate muscle metabolites between stimulated or unstimulated values. Short-term fasting did not change the overall initial or ultimate values of pH, glycogen, lactate, or ATP. Although there was a decrease in ruminoreticulum contents the fluidity increased in the starved lambs. The plane of nutrition and short-term fasting appeared to have little effect on the compounds known to bear some relationship to meat quality. The main effect of fasting was to increase the fluidity of stomach contents.