Vitamins A and E in carcass fat from Japanese Black and F1 cross cattle

This study was carried out to determine the contents of vitamins A and E in carcass fat from Japanese Black and F1 cross cattle, because the method of controlling the amount of vitamin A in feed has been used in the production of expensive beef with high marbling in Japan. We determined the contents of tocopherol and retinol in subcutaneous and perirenal fats for 40 carcasses of Japanese Black and F1 (Holstein x Japanese Black crossed) cattle that had been sent to market from 10 prefectures. In bovine fat, free alpha-tocopherol was present in the greatest amount, the level of gamma-tocopherol was about 10% and there was only a trace of delta-tocopherol. The means +/- standard deviation of alpha-tocopherol content in subcutaneous and perirenal fats were 0.68 +/- 0.33 mg/100 g and 0.54 +/- 0.23 mg/100 g, respectively. The means +/- standard deviation of retinol content in subcutaneous and perirenal fats were 2.9 +/- 4.5 mu g/100 g and 2.9 +/- 5.1 mu g/100 g, respectively. Both vitamins differed widely between animals and were present at a relatively low level compared to other reports (alpha-tocopherol 2.4-5.4 mg/100 g fat tissue and 30-220 mu g/100 g muscle tissue). The correlation coefficients between subcutaneous and perirenal fats for retinol and alpha-tocopherol content were 0.97 (p < 0.01) and 0.82 (p < 0.01), respectively, which showed high correlation. However, the correlation coefficients between retinol and cc-tocopherol contents for subcutaneous and perirenal fats were 0.11 and 0.08, respectively, which showed low correlation. Breed effect was observed in both vitamins. These results indicated that vitamins A and E in fat from Japanese Black and F1 cross cattle under the vitamin A controlling method are present at relatively low levels and feeds need to be supplemented with vitamin E.