ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Anim. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fanim.2025.1683664
Multidimensional Assessment of Meat Quality across Anatomical Regions of Kazakh Horses: An Integrative Evaluation of Meat Quality Traits, Amino Acid Profiles, and Fatty Acid Composition
Provisionally accepted
- Xinjiang Agricultural University, Ürümqi, China
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This study employed HE staining, LC-MS/MS, and related analytical techniques to assess meat quality, muscle fiber characteristics, and nutritional composition in five anatomical regions—longissimus dorsi (LD), diaphragm (DI), psoas major (PM), biceps femoris (BF), and semitendinosus (ST)—of the Kazakh horse. L* values in LD and PM were significantly elevated compared to the other regions (P < 0.01), whereas DI exhibited the highest a* value (P < 0.01). pH measurements indicated significantly higher values in LD, PM, BF, and ST relative to DI (P < 0.01). PM demonstrated superior tenderness, markedly surpassing that of BF. BF displayed the greatest cross-sectional area and diameter compared to other regions (P < 0.01). PM also presented significantly elevated essential amino acid (EAA)/non-essential amino acid (NEAA) and EAA/total amino acid (TAA) ratios (P < 0.01). ST contained the highest levels of total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and exhibited the most significant n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (P < 0.01). The observed intermuscular variation in physicochemical and nutritional properties provides a systematic foundation for quality stratification, targeted nutritional utilization, and processing optimization of Kazakh horse meat.
Keywords: Kazakh horse, meat quality, Amino Acids, Fatty Acids, Muscle fiber
Received: 11 Aug 2025; Accepted: 24 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Ren, Wang, Li, Ma, Huang, 苏, Shan and WANG. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jianwen WANG, wjw1262022@126.com
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