Does transport stress have any effect on carcass quality of Nellore cattle (Bos taurus indicus) in Brazil? – A Case Study1

Abstract

Abstract With the increasing concomitant demands for Brazilian beef and for high-quality beef, there is a need for observational studies of the effects of pre- and post-slaughter practices on beef carcasses traits. We hypothesized in our case study that pre-slaughter transport of bovines over significant distances would induce stress in animals, and that this would reduce carcass quality because of higher pH resulting from long-distance transportation. To test this hypothesis, 30,230 Nellore carcasses from a private slaughterhouse were evaluated 24h postmortem. Analysis showed correlations between animal maturity, ultimate pH, distance, and carcass weight. More precisely, there was a slight positive correlation between ultimate pH and weight (but not with transportation distance) and a slight positive correlation between maturity and weight. A linear regression model (R2 = 0.016) failed to show distance having a significant effect on ultimate pH (P= 0.63), while carcass weight significantly affected ultimate pH (P<0.001) with a low coefficient of 0.0003. Maturity negatively affected ultimate pH also (P<0.001) but with a smaller effect (-0.0008). Results (from 95% confidence intervals of variance of the random effects and of the random errors) showed that the variability within farms is higher than between farms. The linear mixed model showed that maturity has a significant effect on carcass weight value (P<0.001) with a large coefficient of 2.90. The R2 of the linear mixed model is 46.03%. In conclusion, while weight and maturity both affect ultimate pH, long distances did not significantly impact ultimate pH and therefore the beef quality from Nellore cattle. This could be because of low stress during transport, as well as the physical characteristics of the Nellore breed that favor greater resistance to tropical climatic conditions.