Abstracts - Process et Technologies

Within the framework of the European consortium GemQual, 436 young cattle from 15 different cattle breeds were reared in similar livestock systems in order to assess the impact of the breed on beef sensory quality determined by sensory analysis. A comparison of two statistical methods to process sensory analysis data was first performed. The analysis of variance with or without a panelist effect led to similar results indicating that this methodological choice is not decisive for the interpretation of the results. An unsupervised classification (hierarchical ascending classification) then made it possible to group the breeds according to three sensory profiles on the basis of 4 descriptors (tenderness, juiciness, intensity of flavor and abnormal flavor). This highlights five breed associations.
- The Aberdeen Angus, Highland and Jersey breeds, which have a high fat content in the studied muscle (Longissimus thoracis), were distinguished from the other breeds by a higher beef flavor.
- The mixed and hardy breeds, Simmental, Casina and Marchigiana, produced meat that was significantly less juicy and less tender than that of the breeds selected for meat production.
The following three other associations bring together:
- the Limousin and Charolais breeds whose profile seems quite similar:
- the Pirenaica and Avilena breeds highly appreciated by the panelists since they produce tender beef,
- the Asturiana de los Valles and Piemontaise breeds characterized by a more intense abnormal flavour.
Overall, despite significant differences in animal, carcass and muscle characteristics, differences in sensory quality between most breeds were small, with only significant differences between the few breeds that exhibited extreme sensory profiles. (such as Simmental and Pirenaica).

The production of Pyrenean suckling lambs is a way to contribute to the economic activity of the Pyrenees, the maintenance of sheep farmers, the preservation of the environment and the life of the region. In order to defend this product, it is necessary to re-evaluate precisely the interest of crossbreeding between local dairy breeds and local Pyrenean meat breeds, in terms of growth gain and weight at slaughter, but also of conformation and adaptation to the market. The trial compared purebred lambs and lambs crossed with either beef breeds or the Montagne Noire breed. In accordance with feedback from the field, purebred lambs had lower growth performance and lighter slaughter weight and carcass weight than crossbred lambs. Crossbreeding seems to affect fat color and especially the yellow index (b*): purebred lambs' fat is significantly less yellow than crossbred animals. Crossbreeding also affects the color of muscles, the lambs crossed with Montagne Noire and purebred having lighter meat than lambs crossed with other breeds. In our work, we found that purebred lambs were slightly tougher than Black Mountain crossbred lambs and significantly tougher than lambs from other crossbreeds. This exploratory work thus provides the first characterizing elements of breeds and crosses that have been, until now, little treated in the literature.