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Buffalo livestock and strategies are reported for all the countries in Europe, where buffalo specie is reared and used for food production, as Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Germany, Macedonia, United Kingdome, Greece, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, and Hungary. Particularly Italy situation is discussed as in this country selection, milk recording and production, management, nutrition and reproduction techniques, quality food and marketing are really developed at top level. In Italy 50,000 buffaloes are recorded every month during the lactation, showing a milk yield of 2,220 kg in 270 days of lactation with 8.4% fat and 4.6% protein, as many champions produce more than 5,000 kg for lactation. Artificial insemination is largely applied. The National Association of Italian Buffalo breeders was instituted on 1979, the Buffalo Genealogical Book for the Mediterranean Italian Buffalo Breed on 1980, the famous mozzarella cheese obtained the Denomination Origin Protected on 1993, with Decree of Agricultural Ministry, approved by European Union, where milk and mozzarella characteristics are defined for consumer guarantee. In Italy 400,000 buffaloes are managed and fed in intensive system: the females are kept loose in paddock and mechanically milked twice a day; the males are managed in feed-lots or on slatted floor stables for fattening and are slaughtered at 15 months, achieving more than 400 kg live weight. Even if many products are appreciated coming from milk, as ricotta, provola, scamorza, treccia and other cheeses, or coming from meat, as steaks, roast, ham, bresaola, salami, the most important product in the Italian and international market is mozzarella, of which 36,000 tons are produced every year, with a value of 500 million euros. The consumption is 82% in Italy, 18% for export, particularly for Germany, France, USA, UK

Aim of this study was to evaluate growth performance and meat quality of buffalo bulls maintained in different group sizes. Twentyone young buffalo bulls were assigned into two different sized groups of 7 (group LS) or 14 (group HS) individuals. The groups were homogenous for body weight (337±67 kg) and age (455±72 d). Total pen area (3.2 indoor + 3.2 outdoor m2/animal) was kept constant in the two groups. All animals were fed the same diet [CP 14.7% dry matter (DM); Milk FU 0.91/kg DM]. Average daily gain (ADG) was calculated every 2 weeks, along with DM intake (DMI), calculated on pen basis. On a subgroup of 4 individuals per groups, carcass traits were recorded at slaughter. Meat quality (hardness, cohesion, chewiness, WB shear force) and meat colour (L*, a*, b*) were evaluated on 7-day aged muscles (Longissimus dorsi, Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus). DMI and carcass traits were analyzed by one-way ANOVA; ADG, calculated only for 7 animals from group HS, and meat quality parameters were analyzed by a linear mixed model for repeated measures. There was no significant effect of group size on DMI (8.65 vs 8.51 kg DM/day for LS and HS animals, respectively; SE 0.41), ADG (0.89 vs 0.96 kg/d; SE 0.048), carcass weight (249 vs 260 kg; SE 8.13) and dressing percentages (50.6 vs 50.8%; SE 1.12). All carcasses from the two groups were classified O, for carcass conformation, and 4, for fat score, according to SEUROP grading system. There were no differences between the groups for the any meat quality traits, although hardness (3.92 vs 4.80; SE 0.48) and chewiness (2845 vs 3659; SE 4.77) tended to be higher in larger group. In conclusion, group size did not affect growth performance, although meat quality tended to be lower in the larger group.

Growth performance and meat quality of buffalo young bulls: 2. Effect of dietary level of maize silage Felicia Masucci1, Carmela Maria Assunta Barone1, Fabio Napolitano2, Maria Luisa Varricchio1, Antonio Zullo1, Antonio Di Francia1 1Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta, dell’Ambiente e delle Produzioni Animali Università di Napoli Federico II, Italy 2Dipartimento di Scienze delle Produzioni Animali, Università della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy Corresponding author: felicia.masucci@unina.it Aim of this study was to evaluate growth performance and meat quality of buffalo bulls fed two diets with different maize silage contents. Compositions (kg/head/d) of low (LS) and high silage diets (HS) were the following: maize silage 3.0 vs 10.5; alfalfa hay 0 vs 2.0; barley 0.25 vs 0.75; wheat flour middlings 1.0 vs 1.0; wheat straw 3.0 vs 0; commercial concentrate for lactating buffalo cows 0 vs 2.5; commercial concentrate for young buffalo bulls 4.5 vs 0. The diets were approximately isoenergetic [0.92 vs 0.91 Milk FU/kg dry matter (DM)] and isonitrogenous (14.7 vs 14.7 CP% DM). Fourteen young buffalo bulls (316±70 days of age and 436±67 kglive weight) were assigned into the two dietary groups. Average daily gain (ADG) was calculated every 2 weeks, along with DM intake (DMI), calculated on pen basis. On a subgroup of 4 individuals per groups, carcass traits were recorded at slaughter. Meat quality (hardness, cohesion, chewiness, WB shear force) and meat colour (L*, a*, b*) were evaluated on 7-day aged muscles (Longissimus dorsi, Semitendinosus, Semimembranosus). DMI and carcass traits were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. ADG and meat quality parameters were analyzed by a linear mixed model for repeated measures. No differences were observed for diet DMI (8.41 vs 8.64 kg DM/day for LS and HS diets, respectively; SE 0.44), as a consequence ADG did not differ between the groups (0.92 vs 0.89 kg/day; SE 0.04). All carcasses had the same carcass conformation (O) and fatness (4) scores. No differences were observed for carcass traits (carcass weight 250 vs 249 kg; SE 8.13; dressing percentages 52.1 vs 50.6%; SE 1.1) and any meat quality parameters. Therefore, maize silage can be either used as the primary source of roughage or in combination with other forages without affecting growth performance and meat quality.

The effect of some electrical stimulation methods of carcass and side on rheological and colour characteristics of heavy kid muscles was studied. Myofibrillar fragmentation index was also detected and correlated to the meat tenderization. The stimulation of carcass at slaughter allows to obtain a more tender meat and with a lower chewiness than stimulated half dide. The aged side provides more tender meat than side stimulated after 30' from death, but doesn't differ from the carcass stimulated at slaughtering and furthermore ageing. The higher voltage (220 V) doesn't improve the rheological characteristics although the fall of pH values result stronger in the early hours post mortem. WBS resulted not much effective to test the tenderness of meat due to degradation of myofibrils but, instead, to measure the resistance of connective tissue. The electrical stimulation of carcass at slaughter produce paler meat with the lowest redness, chrome and lightness value. Meat obtained from stimulated side reaches the lowest myofibril fragmentation index and the highest value of hardness.

The research was carried out on 15 castrated males and 10 females of Casertana pig slaughtered at a live weight ranging from 130 to 250 kg. Rheological and colorimetric characteristics were determined on the muscles Caput longum tricipitis brachii (CL), longissimus dorsi (LD), psoas maior (PM) anconeus (PA), supraspinatus (SS) after storage at -20 °C for 120 d. Statistical analysis considered live weight as covariate and sex, muscle and interaction as fixed factor (GLM procedure, SAS). Results showed that females have darker meat than castrated males. LD muscle showed the lowest value of a* and b* and was chracacterized by the greater lightness with the lowest chroma and the highest hue value. On the other hand, PA was the darkest muscle and showed the worst rheological traits. PM exhibited the lowest hardness and chewiness value. Sex did not significantly affect rheological characteristics.

The effect of a feeding supplementation with starter concentrate on “Capretto” meat production and its qualitative characteristics was investigated. The results showed that the effect of concentrate supplementation did not influence the slaughter weight, slaughter and dissection data, tissue composition and meat chemical composition of the pelvic limb. No differences were found for rheological characteristics of LD meat, except cohesiveness values, which were higher in the concentrate group kids.

To investigate the structural and qualitative variations induced by two cooking procedures (electric griddle and microwave oven) 6 buffalo males of 17 months of age were slaughtered. On Caput longum tricipitis brachii (CLoTB), Gluteobiceps (Gb), Longissimus dorsi (LD), Semimembranosus (Sm) and Semitendinosus (St)muscles morphometric characteristics of FG, FOG and SO fiber types and some quality indicators (rheological and colour characteristics) were measured. The results showed that Semitendinosus has a higher percentage of FG and FOG fibers, CLoTB has an even distribution of the three fibre types, whereas the LD has a high percentage of FG. With both cooking procedure the cross sectional area (CSA) value of CLoTB, LD and Sm decreases by about 60% whereas cooking on electric griddle causes a decrease in CSA value of St and Gb muscles of an additional 10 and 6% respectively, compared to microwave cooking. Cooking determined a levelling of the value of the qualitative characteristics of the meat: the significant differences found for the raw meat as regards toughness, shear force and chewiness become not significant with both cooking procedure.

We aimed to evaluate the effects of post dry ageing (PDA) period on meat colour and rheological characteristics in 16 buffalo bulls fed two different diets: with (FRS) or without (CTL) rye grass. Animals were randomly divided into two feeding groups and slaughtered at 540 &plusmn, 4.7 and 533 &plusmn, 7.0 kg of live body weight, respectively, for the CTL and FRS group. After five days post-mortem ageing (T0), Semitendinosus muscle (ST) and Longissimus muscle (LD) underwent a prolonged maturation process in a controlled meat chamber for 30 days (ST) and until 60 days (LD). After 30 days (T1), significant changes (p &lt, 0.01) in meat colour (&Delta, E) in both muscles of the FRS group was recorded, while no significant change was observed in CTL group. The FRS diet had a positive effect on textural properties of ST muscle compared to CTL diet, as well as hardness, chewiness and gumminess. All qualitative characteristics improved in the first period of PDA but, whereas LD showed to keep improving, extending the post-ageing period by further 30 days, the ST becomes un-processable at 60 days. In conclusion, a combined used of fresh feeding and PDA period could enhance both tenderness and colour in animal fed FSR.

The effects of different dietary levels of maize silage (10% v. 36% DM) and group size (7 v. 14 animals) were assessed on growth performance and in vivo digestibility of 28 male fattening buffaloes. In addition, the effects of diet on meat quality and group size on behaviour and immune response were separately evaluated. Animals were weighed and assigned to three groups. The high silage - low size group (HL) was fed a total mixed ration (TMR) containing 36% DM of maize silage and consisted of seven animals (age 12.7±2.6 months; BW 382.2±67.7 kg at the start of the study). The low silage - low size group (LL) was fed a TMR containing 10% DM of maize silage and consisted of seven animals (age 13.0±2.7 months; BW 389.4±72.3 kg). The high silage - high size group (HH) was fed the 36% maize silage DM diet and consisted of 14 animals (age 13.9±3.25 months; BW 416.5±73.9 kg). Total space allowance (3.2 indoor+3.2 outdoor m2/animal) was kept constant in the three groups, as well as the ratio of animals to drinkers (seven animals per water bowl) and the manger space (70 cm per animal). Growth performance, carcass characteristics and digestibility were influenced neither by dietary treatment nor by group size, even if the group fed 36% maize silage diet showed a higher fibre digestibility. No effect of diet was found on meat quality. Group size did not affect the behavioural activities with the exception of drinking (1.04±0.35% v. 2.60±0.35%; P