Ghada A. Ibrahim1, Ikhlas A. Nour2 and Isam T. Kadim3
1Department of Meat Production, College of Animal Production, University of Bahri, PO Box 1660, Sudan
2Department of Meat Science, Faculty of Animal Production. University of Khartoum, Sudan
3Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University,
P.O. Box 34, Al-Khoud, Postal Code 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
ABSTRACT
This study was aimed to investigate the effect of camel age and muscle type on meat quality and composition of Longissimus thoracis, biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles. Selected muscles were randomly collected from 12 Sudanese (Camelus dromedarius) of two age groups: group one ( (3-4 year-old) and group two (6-7 year-old) at the Tambol slaughterhouse, Al-Butana State, Sudan. Moisture, protein, fat and ash contents of freeze dried samples were determined. Meat quality parameters including muscle ultimate pH, shear force, expressed juice, cooking loss%, myofibril fragmentation index and colour lightness (L*), redness (a*) and yellowness (b*) were determined. There were significant differences in moisture, fat, and protein contents between muscles. The results also showed that old camel longissimus thoracis muscle had significantly higher fat content than the young one. The semimembranosus muscle sample from 6-7 year-old camel had significantly lower expressed juice than 3-4 year-old camel. The longissimus thoracis had the lowest and highest shear force and lightness values than other muscles. The semitendinosus had the highest shear force value, while semimembranosus had the lowest lightness than other muscle samples. This study indicated that composition and quality parameters varied among camel muscles and the knowledge of this variation allows for better marketing and processing of camel meat.
Key words: Age, composition, dromedary camel, meat quality, muscles
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