Evaluation of Eating Qualities of Ethiopian Beef of Arsi Cattle in Adama Town, Oromia, Ethiopia

The study was conducted in Adama and Bishoftu towns, on beef produced from Arsi breed cattle with objective of evaluating beef eating quality with trained sensory panellists. Beef sample was aseptically collected from longissimus dorsi chuck for sensory evaluation. Breed type was determined by phenotypic traits and age was determined with dentition. The production system being practiced by the animals selling and buying farmers were subsistence production systems. Age and production system has significant effect on tenderness of beef (P < 0.0001). Production systems have significant effect on beef juiciness (P < 0.05). The trained sensory panellists rated 5.23, 5.20 and 5.47 for beef tenderness, juiciness and flavour of beef respectively. There was no variation in proximate qualities due to age and production system effect and their interactions (P > 0.05). The protein and fat content of longissimus dorsi chuck of Arsi cattle were 22.10 and 6.86, respectively