Methods for determining stress syndrome in beef cattle and its relevance to quality of meat

Abstract

Methods for determining stress syndrome in beef cattle is of great importance to identify the physiological state of young cattle before slaughter in order for such animals to be properly treated and restored to a normal physiological state. As a consequence of the state of stress prior to slaughter, meat is obtained which is different from normal. These are non-typical post-mortem changes in meat: 'PSE' (pale, soft, exudative) and 'DFD' (dark, firm, dry) meat, 'watery' meat, usually pork, and 'dark' mostly meat of young bulls. Tests were performed on bulls originating from a farm located 50 km from the slaughterhouse and another farm located 150 km from the slaughterhouse. Young bulls were kept in a free system and loading and unloading was done on unloading ramps and animals taken to the boxes using the lane corridor. Also, attention was paid to avoid mixing with unfamiliar animals during transport. The study included 20 males. The same vehicle was used to transport cattle from the farm to the slaughterhouse. The rectal temperature was taken from 20 young bulls, at the time of loading of cattle into a vehicle during transport and immediately before slaughter. The results of measurements of rectal temperature of investigated bulls suggest that prolonging of transport increases the rectal temperature which can serve as an indicator of stress syndrome in bulls. In addition to measuring of rectal temperature as an indicator of bulls' stress syndrome, other methods are still used, such as the measurement of cortisol in saliva and blood, or the latest methods of measuring cortisol in hair. This is the latest method of the 21st century, which can even determine the time of occurrence of stress. This method is the future that will determine whether the stress occurred few days, weeks or even months ago.

Metode za utvrđivanje stres sindoma junadi imaju veliki značaj u identifikaciji fiziološkog stanja junadi pre klanja, kako bi se takva grla adekvatno tretirala i povratila u normalno fiziološko stanje. Kao posledica stresnog stanja pre klanja dobija se meso koje se razlikuje od normalnog mesa. Ovo obuhvata netipične postmortalne promene mesa kao što su 'BMV' meso (bledo, mekano i vodnjikavo meso) najčešće svinjsko i 'TTS' (tamno, tvrdo i suvo meso), najčešće juneće meso. Ispitivanja su vršena na junadima koja potiču sa farme udaljene 50 km od klanice i sa druge farme koja je udaljena 150 km od klanice. Junad su držana u slobodnom sistemu a utovar i istovar obavljani su na istovarnoj rampi pri čemu su životinje koridorom odvođene u boksove štala. Takodje se vodilo računa da ne dođe do mešanja nepoznatih životinja u toku transporta. Ukupno je ispitano 20 muških grla. Istim vozilom junad su transportovana od farme do klanice. Rektalna temperatura merena je kod 20 junadi, i to u momentu utovara u stočno vozilo, za vreme transporta i neposredno pre klanja. Rezultati merenja rektalne temperature ispitivane junadi ukazuju da prolongiranjem transporta raste i rektalna temperatura što može poslužiti kao pokazatelj stres sindroma junadi. Pored merenja rektalne temperature kao indikatora stres sindroma junadi danas se koriste i druge metode kao što su merenje kortizola u pljuvački i krvi ili najnovija metoda merenje kortizola iz dlake. Ovo je najnovija metoda 21. veka kojom se čak može odrediti vreme nastanka stresa. Ova metoda predstavlja budućnost kojom će se utvrditi da li je stres nastao pre nekoliko dana, nedelja pa čak i meseci. .