Table 1. Meat quality attributes of ovine longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) muscles stored at 4°C for 7 days postmortem

	Postmortem times								p-value
	1 h	6 h	12 h	1 d	2 d	3 d	5 d	7 d
pH	6.07±0.25a	5.92±0.21b	5.74±0.14cd	5.76±0.11cd	5.70±0.13cd	5.67±0.19d	5.51±0.20e	5.81±0.14c	<0.001
L*	37.02±1.28d	37.46±3.54d	38.85±1.90c	42.72±1.79a	43.76±1.19a	43.57±1.46a	40.65±2.27b	37.69±2.67d	<0.001
a*	8.26±0.82d	13.18±1.11b	15.10±1.14a	15.08±1.46a	14.55±1.26a	13.40±1.29b	13.06±0.96b	11.45±1.92c	<0.001
b*	5.72±0.86d	10.70±1.52c	12.29±1.26b	15.01±0.88a	15.73±1.42a	15.59±1.02a	12.87±1.78b	10.43±1.10b	<0.001
MFI	36.02±7.75e	46.11±10.94d	50.75±11.86d	51.98±10.09d	62.72±9.25c	76.01±7.99b	84.97±7.69a	89.03±6.11a	<0.001
Shear force (N)	61.23±5.46bc	66.48±8.42abc	69.11±3.93ab	72.71±7.50a	62.73±15.13bc	57.01±13.30c	42.15±12.66d	36.60±10.20d	<0.001
Cooking loss (%)	11.00±3.44d	13.85±4.32cd	13.50±2.71d	16.71±3.72bc	19.13±3.46ab	21.10±2.91a	18.34±3.08ab	17.66±3.33b	<0.001

The results were shown as means±SD.
Data with different letters in a row are significantly different (p<0.05).
MFI, myofibril fragmentation index.