Main regulatory factors of marbling level in beef cattle

Abstract

The content of intramuscular fat (IMF), that determines marbling levels is considered as one of the vital factors influencing beef sensory quality including tenderness, juiciness, flavour and colour. The IMF formation in cattle commences around six months after conception, and continuously grows throughout the life of the animal. The accumulation of marbling is remarkably affected by genetic, sexual, nutritional and management factors. In this review, the adipogenesis and lipogenesis process regulated by various factors and genes during fetal and growing stages is briefly presented. We also discuss the findings of recent studies on the effects of breed, gene, heritability and gender on the marbling accumulation. Various research reported that feeding during pregnancy, concentrate to roughage ratios and the supplementation or restriction of vitamin A, C, and D are crucial nutritional factors affecting the formation and development of IMF. Castration and early weaning combined with high energy feeding are effective management strategies for improving the accumulation of IMF. Furthermore, age and weight at slaughter are also reviewed because they have significant effects on marbling levels. The combination of several factors could positively affect the improvement of the IMF deposition. Therefore, advanced strategies that simultaneously apply genetic, sexual, nutritional and management factors to achieve desired IMF content without detrimental impacts on feed efficiency in high-marbling beef production are essential.

Towards Sustainable Sources of Omega-3 Long-Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Northern Australian Tropical Crossbred Beef Steers through Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Lipogenic Genes for Meat Eating Quality

“…Selection and breeding provide a long-term alternative to improving marbling level [63], and meat fatty acid composition [64,65]. Several SNP in genes encoding key enzymes and proteins involved in fatty acid metabolism have been reported as potential genetic markers for the improvement of IMF and fatty acid composition in different cattle breeds [33,35,41].…”

Using Untargeted LC-MS Metabolomics to Identify the Association of Biomarkers in Cattle Feces with Marbling Standard Longissimus Lumborum

“…To discover the fecal samples corresponding to marbling beef grade, after the standardized slaughter in the workshop, 100 g the longissimus lumborum muscle was taken from each cattle and washed with normal saline for scoring according to the Japanese marbling grading standard (beef is divided into grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, grade 4, and grade 5 on the basis of marbling richness. The details are in the Supplementary Figure S1 ) [ 6 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Thirty fecal samples were selected, including 15 fecal samples corresponding to low-grade beef (LGB, including grade1–3) and 15 fecal samples corresponding to high-grade beef (HGB, including grade 4–5), then prepared into fecal bacteria liquid, and sent to Majorbio Co., Ltd. in Shanghai, China for LC-MS untargeted metabolomics analysis.…”

Partial Substitution of Corn Grain in the Diet with Beet Pulp Reveals Increased Ruminal Acetate Proportion and Circulating Insulin Levels in Korean Cattle Steers

“…Intramuscular fat (IMF) content is one of the important beef quality traits worldwide [ 1 , 2 ]. IMF content is closely related to beef palatability, including flavor, tenderness, and juiciness [ 1 , 3 ].…”