We investigated the association of muscle iron concentration, in addition to ultimate pH (pHU), on dark meat formation in sheep of different breeds fed forage-based diets. At 1 h simulated display, redness of meat (a*-value) increased (P < .0001) by about 3 units as the iron concentration increased from 10 to 22 mg/kg of meat, whereas the a*-value decreased by 2 units as pHU increased from 5.5 to 6.2 in fresh meat (P < .0001). After 90 days storage the corresponding responses were about 2 units increase for iron concentration and about 1 unit decrease for pHU, respectively. The results clearly show that increased muscle iron concentration was strongly associated with reduced dark cutting in fresh and stored meat evaluated at 1 h simulated display. We conclude that it may be desirable to measure iron concentration, along with pHU, for evaluation of the potential for carcasses to produce dark cutting meat, and for the meat to turn brown during display.

我们研究了除最终pH（pHU）外，肌肉铁浓度与饲喂饲喂日粮的不同品种的绵羊的黑肉形成的关系。在模拟显示的1小时后， 随着铁浓度从10 mg / kg肉增加到22 mg / kg，肉的发红（a *值）增加（P <.0001）约3个单位，而a *值减少2新鲜肉的pHU从5.5增加到6.2（P <.0001）。储存90天后，相应的响应分别是铁浓度增加约2个单位和pHU减少约1个单位。结果清楚地表明，在1 h模拟展示中评估，新鲜和储存的肉中增加的肌肉铁浓度与减少的暗切密切相关。我们得出结论，可能需要测量铁的浓度以及pHU，以评估屠体产生深色切肉以及在展示过程中肉变成棕色的可能性。