Effect of an allostatic modulator on stress blood indicators and meat quality of commercial young bulls in Mexico

• An AM improved some stress blood indicators and meat quality traits in beef.
• The AM treated animals had higher blood monocyte counts.
• The AM treated animals had lower hematocrit, erythrocyte and blood glucose.
• The meat from AM animals had lower a* and b* at 24 h and b* at 28 days.

To assess the effect of an allostatic modulator (AM) on stress blood indicators and meat quality traits, the feed of 80 non-castrated 18–20 month-old bulls was supplemented with 10 g/day of an AM for 30 days before slaughter. Another 80 bulls served as control animals. The AM was comprised of ascorbic acid, acetoxybenzoic acid and sodium and potassium chloride. Blood samples were taken at slaughter for analyses of hematocrit value, erythrocyte and leukocyte counts, and glucose, lactate and cortisol concentrations. Post-mortem measures of meat color and pH were made at 24 h and color, shear force and cooking loss on meat from 20 animals at 28 days. The AM supplementation resulted in lower hematocrit value, erythrocyte count and glucose level (P < 0.05), higher a* (P < 0.0001) and b* (P < 0.0001) at 24 h and lower b* (P < 0.05) at 28 days. Thus AM treatment improved some stress blood indicators and meat color and therefore merits further investigation.