Background: The harvesting and consumption of game meat in South Africa is not limited to season. The study was thus aimed at investigating the seasonal impact on the chemical composition (moisture, protein, fat and ash contents) of male and female blesbok muscles (N = 32; longissimus dorsi, biceps femoris, semimembranosus, semitendinosus, infraspinatus and supraspinatus).
Results: A significant interaction (P ≤ 0.01) existed between season and muscle type. Selected muscles had higher (P ≤ 0.01) mean protein contents with a higher plane of nutrition (spring of 2009), while longissimus dorsi muscles had the highest (P ≤ 0.01) mean intramuscular fat content (33.52 g kg⁻¹). A strong negative correlation (r = -0.82; P ≤ 0.01) existed between the muscles' moisture and protein content. The chemical composition of blesbok semimembranosus muscles was significantly different between seasons, while the other muscles were least affected by seasonal differences in blesbok plane of nutrition and activity levels.
Conclusion: The seasonal and muscle differences were statistically significant, but numerically small. It is therefore debatable whether this is of biological relevance relating to human nutrition.
Keywords: blesbok (Damaliscus pygargus phillipsi); chemical composition; game meat; plane of nutrition; season; sustainable utilization; venison.
© 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.