pH decline of the M. longissimus thoracis of night-cropped Grey Duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia)

Abstract

The effect of night cropping (shooting the animal in the head with a light calibre rifle) on the pH45, pH24 and rate of pH decline in the M. longissimus thoracis of ten Grey duiker was investigated. A mean pH45 of 6.28 ± 0.3895 and a mean pH24 of 5.55 ± 0.0803 was recorded. The change in pH with time was fitted to the exponential function y = a + b e(ct) for the pooled data, and values of 5.5156 ± 0.06294, 0.8387 ± 0.11184 and -0.2281 ± 0.07311 were realised for the constants a, b and c, respectively. This exponential function indicates that the pH of duiker meat reaches an asymptotic pH of 5.52 after 24 hrs under these cropping conditions.