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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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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