Mechanisms of reduced and compensatory growth.

Meat quality is a term used to describe a range of attributes of meat. Consumer research suggests that tenderness is a very important element of eating quality and that variations in tenderness affect the decision to repurchase. The present paper highlights recent information on the factors that affect tenderness. While the precise aetiology is not fully understood, a number of factors have been shown to affect tenderness. Of these factors, postmortem factors, particularly temperature, sarcomere length and proteolysis, which affect the conversion of muscle to meat, appear most important. However, it is now becoming clear that variation in other factors such as the muscle fibre type composition and the buffering capacity of the muscle together with the breed and nutritional status of the animals may also contribute to the observed variation in meat tenderness.

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Determinants of meat quality: tenderness.

Feeding and meat quality - a future approach.

Compensatory growth refers to an animal’s ability to grow extremely rapidly after it has experienced a period of reduced growth. It is also widely held that the growth trajectories of animals showing compensatory growth converge towards those followed by conspecifics that have experienced favorable growth conditions throughout their lives. In other words, it is often assumed that animals undergoing compensatory growth also show some recovery, and thereby exhibit catch-up growth. This belief has resulted in the terms compensatory growth, recovery growth, and catch-up growth being used as synonyms, and has also created some problems with regard to data analysis and interpretation. Following a discussion of methods of analysis and their limitations, a series of growth simulations is presented to illustrate why the terms should not be used as synonyms. The simulations, based upon the assumption that compensatory growth results in a restoration of body composition (using condition index as a surrogate), show that compensatory growth is not always accompanied by a convergence of growth trajectories. Compensatory growth can occur in the absence of catch-up growth, and the simultaneous observation of compensatory growth and a recovery of body mass is a special combination of events. Further, it is possible for growth trajectories to converge even when animals that have experienced a period of reduced growth do not display compensatory growth. Definitions are proposed that distinguish between the terms compensatory growth, recovery growth, and catch-up growth, and guidelines are given relating to the analysis of the results of fish compensatory growth studies.

Are compensatory growth and catch-up growth two sides of the same coin?

Effect of Early Feed Restriction on Metabolic Programming and Compensatory Growth in Broiler Chickens

Different modes of food restriction and compensatory growth in double-muscled Belgian Blue bulls: animal performance, carcass and meat characteristics

Comparison of growth and reproduction performance of dairy (Holstein-Friesian) and beef (Belgian Blue) replacement heifers in farms with both types of cattle

O. Gerard

Papers

Mechanisms of reduced and compensatory growth.

Different modes of food restriction and compensatory growth in double-muscled Belgian Blue bulls: animal performance, carcass and meat characteristics

Comparison of growth and reproduction performance of dairy (Holstein-Friesian) and beef (Belgian Blue) replacement heifers in farms with both types of cattle