Morphological and topographic features of dorsal muscles in marals

Abstract

Maral breeding in the Altai Region and Republic of Altai is one of the promising areas of animal husbandry. Various types of raw materials are obtained from maral: velvet antlers, offal, enzyme-endocrine material, blood, etc., that are used to prepare biologically active additives and drugs used in therapeutic, preventive and sports medicine. In the context of the expansion of tourist, sports and health zones in Altai, maral meat has become especially popular in food chains. Maral meat is ecologically clean, and has high nutritional value due to high protein content and low fat content, balanced amino acids, vitamins, macro- and microelements. Currently, there are few descriptions of individual maral muscles. We studied the dorsal muscles in marals for the first time. The attachment points and topographic features of such muscles as the longissimus muscle, the muscles of neck, head and cranial vertebra; splenius of the neck; spinal and semi-spinal muscles; iliocostalis muscle, etc. Linear and weight indices of muscles were determined using generally accepted methods. Among all muscles, the longissimus muscle is the most developed; it may be seen in all three muscle cuts: lumbar, dorsal, and cervical. According to statistics, the longissimus muscle is the most popular among others in food chains for the production of meat delicacies. The microstructure of individual muscles was studied using histological methods. In the longissimus muscle, the arrangement of muscle fibers is more orderly, and the content of connective tissue is low. The ratio of muscle tissue to connective tissue is 89/11%. The new data obtained on the morphology of the dorsal muscles in marals may be taken into account when cutting carcasses and boning maral meat, and when conducting veterinary and sanitary examination of animal slaughter products.