BODY CONDITION SCORE AND INSTRUMENTAL TENDERNESS OF BEEF IN RELATION TO ETHIOPIAN BEEF CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM AT SELECTED MUNICIPAL AND EXPORT ABATTOIRS IN ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the relation between Body Condition Score, Ethiopian Beef Classification System and Instrumental Tenderness of cattle slaughtered at local and export abattoirs in Ethiopia. A total of 350 samples were randomly selected from two municipal abattoirs and two local abattoirs to determine instrumental tenderness, live weight, carcass weight, body condition score, conformation grade, age, fat cover and breeds of cattle slaughtered in the abattoirs. 150 and 200 samples collected from the municipal abattoirs and export abattoirs respectively. The overall mean tenderness value for the whole animal selected was 4.32 + 0.21 pound or 18.78 + 0.91 N. The mean tenderness value for dry season and wet season was 3.21 + 0.13 pound (13.96 + 0.01 N) and 5.99 + 0.38 pound (26.04 + 1.65 N), respectively. The mean tenderness value for the first municipal abattoir was 4.46 pound (19.39 N) and the mean tenderness value for the second municipal abattoir was 3.78 pound (16.44 N). More cattle (37.14%) slaughtered at the abattoir under study had body condition score of 5. The mean value for live weight and carcass weight was 239.56 + 2.56 and 121.33 + 1.40 kg, respectively. The conformation and fat grade of carcass in the studied abattoirs was about 2 based on score out of 3 in Ethiopian beef carcass classification system. The mean value of age based on dentition and ossification was 3.19 + 0.05 and 3.40 + 0.05 years, respectively. Correlation between degree of conformation, fat cover and tenderness didn’t show significant difference (P<0.05). From the study it was concluded that the body condition score and Ethiopian beef classification system can be good indicators of tenderness of beef