Effects of Fattening Period on Nutritional Composition and Physico-Chemical Quality Properties of Jeju-Horses (Ⅱ)
This study was conducted to evaluate the chemical composition and physico-chemical meat quality properties for Jeju-horse (Jeju-horse×Thoroughbred) with different fattening periods (4-, 8- and 13.5-month). In chemical composition, the moisture contents were decreased as the fattening periods increased. The fat contents were 3.78% at 4-months and they were decreased such as 70∼76% at 13.5-months whereas the protein contents increased as the fattening period increased. The cooking loss was highest (33.41%) at 4-months group and decreased after that periods, however, there was no significant difference among 3 fattening period groups. The Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBS) values were lowest at 4-months group and tended to increase as the fattening period increased. In mineral contents, the contents of Fe, Na, Zn were significantly higher for 4-month group than 8- and 13.5-month group whereas the contents of Mg were significantly lower for 4-month group than 8- and 13.5-month group (p<0.05). The results of the amino acid composition analysis showed that cystein, methionine, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, alanine, valine, lysine, histidine, arginine contents were significantly increased and tyrosine contents were significantly decreased as the fattening period increased (p<0.05). The contents of palmitic acid (C16:0) were highest at 4-month group and they decreased as the fattening period increased (p<0.05). The contents of oleic acid (C18:ln9) were highest at 8-month group and they were lowest at 13.5-month group. The total contents of unsaturated fatty acids were significantly higher for 13.5-month group than those for 4-month groups (p<0.05). In conclusions, the fat contents were decreased whereas the protein, Fe, Mg contents and WHC increased as the fattening periods increased. Overall contents of amino acids increased only except several amino acids. The total contents of unsaturated fatty acids were increased as the fattening period increased, however they were not significantly different when those were fattened more than 8-month. These results indicated that longer fattening period could be more effective to enhance horse meat quality.