The effect of feeding bulls with chelated trace element compounds on the quality indicators of beef

One of the main tasks of agricultural science in the conditions of reforming agricultural production and unsatisfactory environmental conditions is to provide the population with high-quality and environmentally friendly food products. Among them, beef occupies a prominent place. The productivity of young animals for fattening depends on species and breed characteristics, and the manifestation of their hereditary qualities and properties is largely determined by high-quality feeding. It is not always possible to meet the needs of farm animals and, in particular, young animals for fattening in trace elements and vitamins through feed, especially in the western regions of Ukraine, where soils, water, and feed are much poorer in the content of certain trace elements than in other regions. Therefore, the correction of microelement and vitamin nutrition of animals corrects mineral metabolism in their body, serves as the basis for increasing productivity and improving product quality. The existing norms of microelement and vitamin supplements are approximate and not always adequate to the needs of the body and they need to be adjusted taking into account the biogeochemical zone, level and direction of productivity. Control over the quality and sanitary condition of products, their production, storage, transportation and sale is of utmost importance in animal husbandry. Therefore, we were interested in studying how feeding bulls with chelated microelement compounds (ME) affects the organoleptic, physicochemical and sanitary indicators of beef. The data obtained indicate that the meat from animals of the control and experimental groups after slaughter (steamed) and after 48 hours of storage (chilled) was of good quality and suitable for storage. After 14 days of storage, the number of microorganisms in smears – prints from the longest back muscle of animals of the experimental groups was less than in animals of the control group. There was also a decrease in the pH of meat from animals of group IV towards the acidic side compared to the control, which created unfavorable conditions for the development of microorganisms. We also conducted a tasting evaluation of boiled meat and broth, determining the appearance, aroma, taste, tenderness and juiciness. When analyzing the data obtained, it was found that the best was the IV group, which was fed chelated compounds of trace elements with vitamins. As a result, the overall tasting score was 1.58 points higher than in the meat obtained from the bulls of the control group. The broth prepared from the meat of animals of the experimental groups had better organoleptic indicators (appearance, aroma, taste and richness) than the broth from the meat of the bulls of the control group, but the highest score was in the broth of animals of the IV group. Therefore, conducting research in this direction (feeding bulls with chelated compounds of ME and vitamins) will allow a deeper study of the metabolic processes on their meat productivity and beef quality indicators.