pH decline of the M. longissimus thoracis of night-cropped Grey Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia)

Abstract

The effect of night cropping (shooting the animal in the head with a light calibre rifle) on the pH45, pH24 and rate of pH decline in the M. longissimus thoracis of ten Grey duiker was investigated. A mean pH45 of 6.28 ± 0.3895 and a mean pH24 of 5.55 ± 0.0803 was recorded. The change in pH with time was fitted to the exponential function y = a + b e (ct) for the pooled data, and values of 5.5156 ± 0.06294, 0.8387 ± 0.11184 and -0.2281 ± 0.07311 were realised for the constants a, b and c, respectively. This exponential function indicates that the pH of duiker meat reaches an asymptotic pH of 5.52 after 24 hrs under these cropping conditions.


(South African Journal of Animal Science, 2000, 30(1):16-17)