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Effects of Heat Stress and Climate Change Induced Bushfires on Beef Meat Quality

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Climate Change and Livestock Production: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

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Abstract

Heat stress is considered a very stressful event for livestock, and it has detrimental consequences for not only animal health and productivity but also product quality. During bushfires, which are increasingly prevalent under climate change, animals can be exposed to extreme heat stress events. Ruminants are very prone to heat stress because of increased metabolic rate. Under the influence of chronic heat stress, ruminants exhibit a reduction of muscle glycogen concentration, which leads to increased, ultimate pH and WHC, producing the quality defect of dark-cutting meat. In addition, heat stress causes extended protein and lipid oxidation, oxidative stress and shelf life reduction of meat. A case study is presented on the effects of the devastating bushfires in Australia in 2019–2020 on the quality of 450,000 beef carcases. This chapter focuses on the effects of bushfire and heat stress on the ruminants and the consecutive changes produced on the quality of the meat. Discussion on knowledge gaps, and future perspectives are also provided.

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Abbreviations

$:

Dollar

%:

Percentage

°C:

Degree Celsius

ANS:

Autonomic nervous system

AUS-MEAT:

Authority for the uniform specification of meat and livestock

cAMP:

Cyclic adenosine mono phosphate

cm2:

Centimeter square

h:

Hour

HCO3−:

Bicarbonate

HGP:

Hormonal growth promotant

HSP:

Heat shock protein

kg:

Kilogram

L:

Lightness

MLA:

Meat and Livestock Australia

MSA:

Meat Standards Australia

NSW:

New South Wales

pH:

Potential of hydrogen

PSE:

Pale, soft and exudative

RH:

Relative humidity

ROS:

Reactive oxygen species

US:

Unites States

WBSF:

Warner Bratzler shear force

WHC:

Water holding capacity

β:

Beta

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Robyn D. Warner, Melindee Hastie, Paula A. Gonzalez-Rivas, Surinder S. Chauhan, Minh Ha & Caitlin Pfeiffer

  2. Ausvet, Bruce, ACT, Australia

    Allison Hilman & Brendan Cowled

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  1. Robyn D. Warner
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  2. Melindee Hastie
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  3. Paula A. Gonzalez-Rivas
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  4. Surinder S. Chauhan
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  5. Minh Ha
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  6. Caitlin Pfeiffer
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  7. Allison Hilman
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  8. Brendan Cowled
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robyn D. Warner .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore, India

    Veerasamy Sejian

  2. Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Science, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia

    Surinder Singh Chauhan

  3. Centre for Climate Resilient Animal Adaptation Studies, ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore, India

    Chinnasamy Devaraj

  4. ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore, India

    Pradeep Kumar Malik

  5. ICAR-National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore, India

    Raghavendra Bhatta

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Warner, R.D. et al. (2021). Effects of Heat Stress and Climate Change Induced Bushfires on Beef Meat Quality. In: Sejian, V., Chauhan, S.S., Devaraj, C., Malik, P.K., Bhatta, R. (eds) Climate Change and Livestock Production: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-9836-1_2

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