TI 11. Beef nutrient composition of water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) vs. Zebu type cattle with similar carcass traits. Preliminary results

Abstract

Ten male water buffaloes (5 whole and 5 castrated) were raised on tropical savannahs and compared inbeef nutrient composition to the same classes of ten grass-fed Zebu-type cattle (ZEBU) selected from a largerdata bank of beef with unknown history but similar to buffaloes in maturity, fat cover uniformity, marbling score(“P. devoid”), carcass weight and ribeye area. Protein and total lipids contents were similar (P>.05) in bothspecies. However, there were differences (P < .05) in moisture (76.05 % buffalo vs. 74.70 % ZEBU) and drymatter (24.0 % buffalo vs. 25.19 % ZEBU) contents. Cholesterol content (mg/100 g lean tissue) was similar (P>.05) for both species (71.09 buffalo vs. 69.00 ZEBU). Fatty acid (AG) profile (g/100 g of lean tissue) showeda higher (P<.05) individual amount of most AG in ZEBU, except for stearic, oleic and arachidonic (P>.05).Buffalo meat exhibited a lower (P<.05) concentration of total saturated AG (0.510 g/100g) than beef (0.792 g/100g) however, a significant specie x sex interaction was detected. Results of this study show some apparent advantages for buffalo meat from a nutritional standpoint. However, these results are preliminary and must be corroborated by trials with higher number of animals raised under the same management conditions.