Abstract:

In the towns of Akeli and Maori Jinchuan county, Sichuan province, we recently about 52% of the yak population
which have one more thoracic vertebra than the rest and correspondingly have one more rid, both reaching 15. Our survey
indicated that the group of yaks had better carcass performance and meat palatability and tenderness than ordinary ones of the
same age. The aim of this study is to investigate postmortem changes in muscle mineral elements, fatty acid composition and
color parameters in multi-vertebrate yaks. Thirty castrated male Jinchuan multi-vertebrate yaks and 30 castrated male Maiwa
yaks at 3.5 to 5.5 years of age were randomly chosen and slaughtered using a routine process and muscles were taken for
determination of mineral elements by ICP-OES, fatty acid composition by GC-MS and color parameters by colormeter. The
results showed that a significantly higher amount of Fe, Cu, Mn, Ni and Zn were present in muscles in Jinchuan multi-vertebrate
yaks compared to Maiwa yaks (P ＜ 0.05). A significant difference in fatty acid composition existed between muscles of both
breeds (P ＜ 0.05). The L* value of multi-vertebrate yak muscles at 3 h post-slaughter declined slower than that of Maiwa
yak muscles. Within 5 h post-slaughter, the C* value of muscles of both yak breeds evolved in quite different manners. In
conclusion, multi-vertebrate yak muscles are richer in particle minerals than Maiwa yak muscles and have unique fatty acid
composition and flavor. In addition, multi-vertebrate yak muscles remains tender for 3 h post-slaughter, and the color of meat
remains stable for 5 h post-slaughter. Therefore, multi-vertebrate yak muscles have excellent commercial traits.

Key words: Jinchuan multi-vertebrate yak, trace elements, fatty acid, hue angle, chroma