*3.1.3 Effect of animal age*

The age of animal at slaughtering time has significance impact on meat quality along with animal breed, feeding plan, growth rate and live weight. As concerned with cattle, the meat color darkens with the age [18–23]. As the mature animal grows, myoglobin level increases which outcomes in dark color of meat [24–27]. Higher level of intramuscular myoglobin increases red color and reduces lightness of meat [28, 29]. On the other hand, the level of glycogen only increases the muscles oxidative capacity [30]. With the animal age, ultimate pH of muscle increases, thus darkening the color of meat.
