Association study of bovine candidate loci to meat quality

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the potential association between candidate loci and  indicators of meat quality in Czech Simmentals. For the study, loci for calpain (CAPN530) and myostatin (MSTN) were chosen. The  analysis revealed 258 bulls (locus CAPN530) and 228 bulls (locus MSTN) of Czech Simmental cattle. Genotyping was carried out by PCR/RFLP method. The association analysis was performed for polymorphisms of both loci and shear force of the raw and grilled meat on the 1^st, 14^th and 28^th day after slaughter. The CAPN530 locus showed a statistically significant effect on the power cut for raw and grilled meat in the 1^st day after the slaughter (P<0.05), and for grilled meat significant changes were stated in the 14^th and 28^th day post mortem (P<0.05). No significant relationships in locus MSTN between genotype and shear force (P<0.05) were found. The MSTN genotype affected the ability to bind water. However, the findings should be interpreted with caution to the unequal representation of genotypes for the locus MSTN in the study.