Effect of Gender on Meat Quality of House-fed Fattening Yak

To investigate the effect of gender on meat quality of house-fed fattening yaks,male yaks and female yaks(6 yaks,respectively)were selected with 2.5-year-old and healthy. All yaks were slaughtered after 194 days house-fed fattening. The longissimus dorsi muscle was collected and the meat quality related indicators were measured. The results showed as follows:The cooking loss of yak meat in the male yaks was significant lower than that of female yaks(P<0.05),there were no significant differences in meat color,pH,and other indexes(P>0.05). Compared with the female yaks,yak meat had higher shear force,total collagen,collagen thermal solubility and soluble collagen contents in the male yaks(P<0.05),and had no significant effect on muscle fibers density,diameter and area(P>0.05). In addition,there was no significant difference in the contents of antioxidant indexes in yak meat of different gender(P>0.05). Compared with the male yaks,there were higher crude protein and crude fat contents(P<0.05),and lower ash contents than that of the female yaks(P<0.05). The ratio of essential amino acids to total amino acids and the ratio of essential amino acids to non-essential amino acids was significantly higher than that of the female yaks(P<0.05),and the ratio of umami amino acids to total amino acids was significantly lower than that of the female yaks(P<0.05). The contents of Cystine in the male yaks was significantly lower than that in the female yaks(P<0.05). The contents of Leuine,Phenylalanine and Histidine were significantly higher than that of the female yaks(P<0.05),and the other amino acids were not significantly different(P>0.05). Docosanoic acid(C22:0),11c,14c-eicosadienoic acid(C20:2)and gamma linolenic acid(C18:3n6)were only detected in the muscle of the female yaks,10-heptadecenoicacid(C17:1)in the female yaks was significantly higher than that in the male yaks(P<0.05),and there were no significant differences in other fatty acid indexes(P>0.05). In conclusion,female yaks muscle had lower drip loss,higher crude protein and intramuscular fat contents,and the umami amino acid contents and fatty acid composition were higher than that of male yaks,which would have better development potential.