Carotenoid, colour and reflectance measurements in bovine adipose tissue to discriminate between beef from different feeding systems

Our hypothesis was that carotenoids in bovine subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) together with colour and reflectance spectra could be used to differentiate between beef production systems based on grass, concentrates or combinations thereof. SAT was sampled from the carcasses of heifers fed pasture (P), a barley-based concentrate (C), silage followed by pasture (SiP) or silage followed by pasture with concentrate (SiPC). beta-carotene in the SAT from the C group (0.09 mug g(-1)) was lower (P<0.05) than that from the P (0.54 mug g(-1)), SiP (0.49 mug g(-1)) and SiPC (0.49 mug g(-1)) groups. Lutein in the SAT differed (P