Amino acid profiles of veal and beef meat obtained in intensive fattening or dairy farming as affected by beef from dairy breed combinations

‘Beef from dairy’ is an interesting option with the use of sexed semen for the production of replacement dairy heifers and beef semen, especially from double muscled bulls, for producing crossbred calves destined to veal and beef production by the dairy farmers or intensive specialised fatteners. But little is known of the effects of type of bovine meat (veal vs beef), farming system, and the combination of sire × and dam breeds on the amino acid content of meat. To carry out amino acid profiling of bovine meat, (through RP-HPLC) we sampled the longissimus thoracis muscle from the carcasses of 104 intensively fattened veal calves (4 breed combinations), 72 intensively fed ‘beef from dairy’ crossbred young bulls (5 breed combinations), 26 intensively fed purebred Charolais young bulls, 17 intensively fed ‘beef from beef’ crossbred young bulls, and 12 young bulls extensively fed in the dairy farms of origin. Respect to beef meat, veal meat was found to have significantly larger content of 6 amino acids (Arg, Cys + Sec, Glu + Gln, and Hyp) and smaller content of 10 amino acids (His, Ile, Leu, Lys, Phe, Val, Gly, Tyr, Ser, and Ala), out of 22 amino acids analysed, whereas beef was not greatly affected by farming system (intensive fatteners vs dairy breeders). Within meat type and farming system, the amino acid profile was moderately affected by the breed combination of veal calves and young bulls.