Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2022, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (3): 700-710.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2022.03.004

• ANIMAL GENETICS AND BREEDING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Difference Analysis of Meat Quality and Muscle Fiber Characteristics between Newborn and Adult Black Tibetan Sheep

ZHOU Li, GAO Zhanhong, HOU Shengzhen, YANG Baochun, WANG Zhiyou, GUI Linsheng*   

  1. College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry, Qinghai University, Xining 810016, China
  • Received:2021-07-12 Online:2022-03-23 Published:2022-03-31

Abstract: This experiment was conducted to study the differences of meat quality and muscle fiber characteristics of black Tibetan lambs at different ages under grazing conditions. Five newborn black Tibetan lambs (average weight (2.31±0.49) kg) and five 12-month-old black Tibetan sheep (average weight (36.58±1.26) kg) were selected under natural grazing conditions in Qinghai. They were divided into two groups according to age, namely lamb group and adult sheep group. Via ATPase staining, ELISA and real-time qPCR, the variation of the nutrient composition, antioxidant capacity, muscle fiber type and myosin heavy chain (MyHCs) genes expression in longissimus dorsi were analyzed between lamb and adult sheep groups. The results showed as follows:1) There were no significant differences in nutrient indexes of longissimus dorsi such as moisture, crude protein, ether extract and ash between the two groups (P>0.05). Similarly there were no significant differences in catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), superoxide dismutase (SOD) activities, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels (P>0.05). 2) The diameter and cross-sectional area of type Ⅰ, ⅡA and ⅡB muscle fiber in lambs were significantly lower than those of adults (P<0.05), but the muscle fiber density was the opposites (P<0.05). The proportion of type Ⅰ muscle fiber quantity and the proportion of type Ⅰ and type ⅡA muscle fiber area of lambs were significantly higher than those of adult sheep (P<0.05). 3) The mRNA expression levels of MyHC Ⅰ and MyHC ⅡA in lambs were significantly lower than those in adults (P<0.05), but the mRNA expression level of MyHC ⅡB was the opposite (P<0.05). These results indicated that, with the increase of age, the nutrient composition and antioxidant capacity of longissimus dorsi of black Tibetan sheep had no significant changes, but the muscle fiber dramatic changed from oxidized type to glycolysis type, which influenced the body growth and development to a certain extent.

Key words: black Tibetan sheep, nutrients, muscle fiber type, antioxidant index, MyHCs gene, meat quality

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