Effects of diet and storage on fatty acid profile, micronutrients and quality of muscle from German Simmental bulls

This study evaluated the effect of diet on fatty acid profile, vitamins, trace elements, lipid peroxidation, and quality of longissimus muscle of German Simmental bulls. The effect of storage on fatty acid profile and vitamins was also included. A control group was fed concentrate including soybean, and maize silage/grass silage. Treatment group I (unrestricted) was fed concentrate including rapeseed, and grass silage. Treatment group II (restricted) was fed like treatment group I with a feed restriction period. The treatment diet was not effective to give similar daily live weight gain to the control diet, but it was successful in improving beef fatty acid composition without affecting tenderness and colour (under unrestricted conditions). There were no differences in vitamins and cooking loss, but selenium decreased in treatment groups. Stimulated lipid peroxidation, in samples taken immediately post-mortem, was higher in treatment groups. Polyunsaturated fatty acids decreased, saturated fatty acids and intramuscular fat increased after 14 days of storage while vitamins had no significant reduction.