Article

Muscle fiber characteristics on chop surface of pork loin (M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum) associated with muscle fiber pennation angle and their relationships with pork loin quality

Sumin Song1, Huilin Cheng1, Eun-Young Jung2, Seon-Tea Joo3, Gap-Don Kim1,2,*
Author Information & Copyright
1Graduate School of International Agricultural Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang 25354, Korea.
2Institutes of Green Bio Science & Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang 25354, Korea.
3Division of Applied Life Science (BK21+), Gyeongsang National University, Jinju 52852, Korea.
*Corresponding Author: Gap-Don Kim, Graduate School of International Agricultural Technology, Seoul National University, Pyeongchang 25354, Korea. Phone: +82-33-339-5778. E-mail: gapdonkim@snu.ac.kr.

© Copyright 2020 Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Jun 24, 2020 ; Revised: Aug 01, 2020 ; Accepted: Aug 03, 2020

Published Online: Aug 05, 2020

Abstract

The influence of muscle architecture on muscle fiber characteristics and meat quality has not been fully elucidated. In the present study, muscle fiber characteristics on the chop surface of pork loin (M. longissimus thoracis et lumborum, LTL), pennation angle degree, and meat quality were evaluated to understand the pork LTL architecture and its relationship with the loin chop quality. Muscle fiber pennation degree ranged from 51.33° to 69.00°, resulting in an ellipse-shaped muscle fiber on the surface of pork loin chop. The cross-sectional area (CSA) on the sections cut vertical to the muscle length (M-Vertical) was considerably larger (p<0.05) than that on the sections cut vertical to the muscle fiber orientation (F-Vertical) regardless of the fiber type. Pennation angle is positively correlated with CSAs of F-Vertical (p<0.05) and with Warner-Bratzler shear force (r = 0.53, p<0.01). Besides the shear force, lightness and pH were positively correlated with the fiber composition and CSA of IIX fiber (p<0.05); however, the redness, yellowness, drip loss, and cooking loss were not correlated with the pennation angle and muscle fiber characteristics on the chop surface (p>0.05). These observations might help us in better understanding pork loin architecture and the relationship between the pennation angle, muscle fiber characteristics, and meat quality of pork loin chop.

Keywords: muscle architecture; pennation angle; muscle fiber characteristics; pork loin