Free Amino Acids in Bovine Muscles and Their Relationship to Tenderness

Abstract

SUMMARY — Free amino acid (FAA) analyses were conducted on 87 I. dorsi and 58 b. femoris samples from cattle varying in sex, breeding and age to study the relationships between these muscle constituents and Warner‐Bratzler Shear values. The b. femoris contained greater amounts of FAA than the I. dorsi and was significantly tougher. Muscles from a line of cattle that tended to be more tender possessed greater amounts of FAA. With few exceptions the I. dorsi of steers contained greater amounts of FAA than the same muscle from bulls. Differences in bull muscles due to age were not significant for any FAA. Steer muscle with low shear values tended to possess greater amounts of FAA than steers with high shear values. Although not significantly correlated individual and total FAA increased slightly with increasing tenderness within beef muscles.