Analysis of Meat Quality Traits and Nutrient Composition of Binglangjiang and Dehong Buffaloes

In order to investigate the meat quality of Binglangjiang and Dehong buffalo bulls and to exploit their meat value, Binglangjiang (BLJ) and Dehong (DH) buffalo bulls at (33 ± 3) months of age (n = 10 for each breed) were fed a concentrate feed at 3 kg/d per animal and ad libitum whole-plant maize silage under the same conditions of feeding and management. The pre-experimental period lasted 10 d and the experimental period lasted 90 d. The results showed that the color parameters brightness, redness, and yellowness values of the longissimus dorsi and biceps femoris muscles in the BLJ group were significantly higher than those of the DH group (P < 0.05), and the eye muscle area was highly significantly higher than that of the DH group (P < 0.01). Of the saturated fatty acids (SFA), C_17:0 and C_18:0 significantly increased (P < 0.01) while C_16:0 significantly decreased (P < 0.05) in the longissimus dorsi muscle of the BLJ group when compared to the DH group; in the biceps femoris muscle of the BLJ group, the relative content of C_18:0 was significantly higher than that of the DH group (P < 0.01), and the relative content of C_{17. 0} was significantly higher than that of the DH group (P < 0.05). Among the polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), the relative content of C_{22:4 n-6} in both muscles was significantly higher in the BLJ group than in the DH group (P < 0.01), and the contents of C_{20:4 n-6} and C_{22:5 n-6} in the longissimus dorsi muscle of the BLJ group were significantly higher than those of the DH group (P < 0.05). The relative content of PUFAs associated with hypercholesterolemia in the longissimus dorsi muscle significantly decreased in the BLJ group relative to the DH group (P < 0.05). For the BLJ group, the content of cholesterol was significantly higher in biceps femoris than in longissimus dorsi (P < 0.05), and the content of cholesterol in longissimus dorsi was highly significantly lower than that of the DH group (P < 0.01). In conclusion, the longissimus dorsi of Binglangjiang buffalo bulls had larger eye muscle area and a bright red color. Both beef meats were low in cholesterol and had reasonable fatty acid composition, thus being a source of high-quality fatty acids.