Impact of animal nutrition on muscle composition and meat quality

With growing populations and the increase in the socioeconomic status of Asian populations (e.g., China and India), it is expected that there will be an increasing demand for red meat as a source of animal protein. It is predicted that the consumption of red meat from cattle (bovine) and sheep (ovine) will increase approximately 200% by 2050 while pork (porcine) will increase by 158% (Alexandratos and Bruinsma 2012). In this context, global animal production will face significant challenges over the coming decades in order to meet the increasing demand for protein. Sustainable production, efficient use of natural resources, and improvement of animal welfare all need to share the focus when attempting to meet this heightened demand. Hence, animal nutrition can be employed to play a major role in achieving these requirements. Consequential benefits related to increased efficiency of animal production and improved body composition associated with animal nutrition includes improvements in carcass traits, muscle composition, and meat quality. The maintenance of dietary nutrition, feed, or ration during the critical times and stages of animal life provides several advantages to the producer, processor, and consumer (Demeyer and Doreau 1999). For example, the management of dietary nutrition can alter lean and fat deposition in the animal carcass and avoid complications typical of an unbalanced diet wherein animals are sent to slaughter either underweight or overweight with an excess of fat, thus incurring a price penalty. Furthermore optimizing the dietary nutrition of animals can impact meat quality by optimizing the intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics of muscle.