or a s t h e t i t l e suggests, " Q u a l i t a t i v e C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e Meat Animal",

Transcription

1 88. Q U A L I T A T I V E C H A R A C T E R I S T I C S O F T H E ElEAT A N I H A L AS I N F L U E N C E O B Y P H Y S I O L O G I C A L M A T U R I T Y E Q U I V A L E N T S J. I. JI. GUENTHER Introduction Before attempting t o suggest, describe or d i s c u s s any r e l a t i o n ship, d i r e c t cause and e f f e c t or otherwise, between q u a l i t y a t t r i b u t e s of t h e meat animal and p h y s i o l o g i c a l maturity, we need t o d e f i n e t h e s e terms or a t l e a s t e s t a b l i s h c r i t e r i a for t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e d e f i n i t i o n and/or assessment. This w i l l enable us t o coordinate our thinking and keep us i n t h e same b a l l p a r k, a t l e a s t, during t h e subsequent d i s c u s s i o n which, it i s hoped, w i l l produce t h e g r e a t e s t u l t i m a t e b e n e f i t from t h i s p r e s e n t a t i o n. Now, we have a l l been exposed t o t h e terms "Quality" and "Physiological Maturity". They a r e i n common usage i n our a r e a of a c t i v i t y, and we a l l know p r e c i s e l y what i s meant by each term. Or do we? 11. Q u a l i t a t i v e C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of Meat Animals L e t ' s begin our d e f i n i t i v e chores w i t h t h e term "Meat Q u a l i t y " or a s t h e t i t l e suggests, " Q u a l i t a t i v e C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of t h e Meat Animal", This t e r m, of course, has various connotations, depending upon o n e ' s p o s i t i o n i n t h e meat Industry. To c r e a t e some semblance of order, then, l e t ' s p o i n t out t h e s e various p o s i t i o n s or product q u a l i t y l e v e l s and suggest what "Quality" e n t a i l s a t each l e v e l, F i r s t t h e r e i s t h e Live Animal Level. Which might a l s o be c a l l e d t h e Producer, Show Ring or Auction Ring l e v e l. What f a c t o r s determine "Quality" here? When I posed t h i s question t o a f e w of our t o p Live Animal Judges I got t h e impression t h a t q u a l i t y a t t h e Live animal l e v e l i s a r a t h e r vague e n t i t y, which i s very h a s t i l y, s u b j e c t i v e l y and i n d i r e c t l y I'm assessed, i f a t a l l. Now I ' m not being c r i t i c a l of t h e s e Judges simply implying t h a t " Q u a l i t y C r i t e r i a " a t t h i s l e v e l a r e extremely nondescript. The following i s a synopsis of t h e "Quality" f a c t o r s considered a t t h e Live Animal Level or i n t h e judging of market animals, (1)Type S i z e f o r weight, ( 2 1 Soundness legs, etc. s t y l e and eye appeal. No obvious d e f e c t s, i. e., crooked hind (3) Expected c a r c a s s merit involves an estimate o f : ( a ) Expected c u t a b i l i t y or y i e l d of highpriced c u t s ; muscle t o f a t r e l a t i o n s h i p ; amount of bone, e t c. ( b ) Expected q u a l i t y i n t h e meat, This i s determined

2 89. by estimating Carcass Grade, which i n t u r n i s estimated from t h e f a t content. The f a t content i s determined by estimating t h e f a t cover over t h e ribs and back (1/2" 1" maximum). I s animal f a t enough t o grade choice but not too f a t? Comments by Judges "We recognize t h a t a prime c a r c a s s can have only.3" f a t cover, but t h i s i s t h e exception r a t h e r It 11 If an animal i s not f a t enough t o grade than the rule. choice and appears t o be an e x c e l l e n t y i e l d e r of l e a n c u t s, t h e animal may be placed up." It appears t h a t a t t h e Live Animal Level we a r e guessing c a r c a s s grade and hoping t h a t t h i s w i l l s u f f i c e a s f a r as e a t i n g q u a l i t y i s concerned. Also, I b e l i e v e it i s obvious t h a t q u a n t i t y i s a major considerat i o n a t t h i s l e v e l and t h a t an assessment of Q u a l i t y i s accomplished only i n d i r e c t l y and, a t b e s t, i s obscured or confounded w i t h t h e Q u a n t i t y evaluation. Thus making, i n e f f e c t, q u a n t i t y of l e a n, f a t, and bone a n i n t e g r a l f a c t o r of q u a l i t y, Secondly, t h e r e i s t h e Carcass of Packer Level. include t h e R e t a i l Level here. We might a l s o A s evidenced by t h e f a c t o r s determined i n assigning a f e d e r a l grade t o a carcass, q u a l i t y a t t h i s l e v e l involves two major considerations. (1)An estimate of t h e y i e l d of high p r i c e d c u t s and t h e r a t i o of l e a n t o f a t. This i s done simultaneously when t h e r a t i n g f o r Conformation i s given. ( 2 ) An e v a l u a t i o n of t h e p o t e n t i a l p a l a t a b i l i t y or e a t i n g q u a l i t y of t h e carcass. This i s accomplished by s u b j e c t i v e l y a s s e s s i n g and i n t e g r a t i n g t h e following f a c t o r s : blaturity a.s evidenced by c e r t a i n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of bone and c a r t i l a g e ; Marbling a s evidenced by t h e amount and d i s t r i b u t i o n o f "flecks of f a t " i n t h e exposed longissimus d o r s i, r e c t u s abdominis, diaphragm, i n t e r c o s t a l and p e c t o r a l muscles, a s w e l l a s i n o t h e r s t r a t e g i c c a r c a s s l o c a t i o n s, F i n a l l y, t h e color, amount, t e x t u r e s and firmness of l e a n, u s u a l l y assessed from t h e exposed longissimus d o r s i muscle, i s considered. It might be pointed out t h a t i f t h e s e l a t t e r f a c t o r s a r e deemed " s a t i s f a c t o r y " t h e carcass can be quickly graded on t h e b a s i s of t h e conformation, maturity and marbling r a t i n g s. Curiously enough, t h e s e f a c t o r s determined from t h e longissimus d o r s i muscle can be o b j e c t i v e l y evaluated with some degree of p r e c i s i o n. Yet t h e y a r e of seemingly minor importance. With t h e exception of conformation, t h e aforementioned f a c t o r s a r e w e l l understood and uniformly assessed. Also, d e f i n i t e l i m i t s a r e imposed upon t h e s e f a c t o r s. Here again, however, considerable "hoping" i s practiced. Notwithstanding t h e f a c t t h a t " h a 1 Grading" which supposedly is removes t h e Q u a n t i t a t i v e considerations from Q u a l i t y e v a l u a t i o n a v a i l a b l e and i s used t o a l i m i t e d degree, it seems t o me t h a t, taken a s a whole, t h e i n d u s t r y i n t i m a t e l y intermingles q u a n t i t y w i t h q u a l i t y a t t h i s level also. Thirdly and l a s t l y, t h e r e i s t h e Consumer Level, which I l i k e t o d i v i d e i n t o (1)t h e uncooked or r e t a i l c u t l e v e l a n d m t h e cooked o r meat entree level.

3 90. At the retailcut consumer level the quality attributes include: ratio of lean to ''waste fat and bone"; color of lean; marbling; texture and firmness of lean; and odor (especially if unpackaged). I think that there is also an assessment made here of the waterholding capacity of the cut, but this is evaluated indirectly as the amount of drip or exudate in the package. At the cooked cut or meat entree level quality is judged primarily in terms of tenderness, juiciness, flavorfulness and aroma. There is every reason to believe, however, that the consumer also considers the color of the cooked product, the waterholding capacity (again, this is indirectly assessed as, "shrinkage"), and the amount of "waste fat and bone" remaining on the plate. As we reflect on these meat quality attributes it becomes apparent that, at all product levels, the quantity factor or ratio of lean to fat and bone is, in effect, considered as an intergral part of meat quality, Also, muscle color and water holding capacity appear to be important acrosstheboard considerations. As meat Scientists, our imediate concern lies with the quality attributes at the consumer levels, Yet, we are bound and tied by the factors considered at the live animal and carcass levels and consequently we cannot afford to be disinterested in what is being called "Qpality" at these levels. Our quality research at the consumer level must be projected backwards and tied in more closely with measureable attributes at these upper levels, if we are going to make significant progress. When we consider the great number of factors, such as, breed, sex, age, stress, management regime, plane of nutrition, slaughter procedure, postmortem handling and environment, anatomy of the cut, cooking method, etc., which can and do influence the quality of a meat product, doesn't it seem a little unfair that the consumer's senory mechanism (as variable as it is) only reacts to the product for a few fleeting moments? If we couple this with the world population vs. available farmland problem, the question arises, "Would we be better off if we concentrated our efforts on improving the total quantity (of lean) and production efficiency in our meat animals, then via postmortem measures influence as favorably as we can product eating quality?'' Or one might also ask, "Is the efficient, well muscled animal also the quality animal?" Are the determining factors mutually related? Let's turn our attention now to physiological maturity Physiological Fmturitx This term, along with its companions physiological age, chemical age and maturity is frequently encountered in meat and animal science areas, I've often remarked that if one is hard pressed to explain an unusual experimental result, he can always attribute it to differences in physiological maturity, And if you'll scan the literature, you'll find that this tactic is in common usage.

4 91. I n attempting t o d e f i n e and s e t l i m i t s on Physiological Maturity, I f i r s t conferred w i t h a number of ''Pure" Physiologists. These f o l k s claimed t h a t they had never heard o r encountered t h e term used i n t h e i r area, and while admitting t h a t one could probably e s t a b l i s h c e r t a i n c r i t e r i a f o r i t s d e f i n i t i o n and measure, t h e y h a s t e l y, b u t graciously, excused themselves. Subsequently, I polled a few Animal S c i e n t i s t s. They d i d o f f e r some suggestions but I got t h e impression t h a t p h y s i o l o g i c a l m a t u r i t y was X people he a r a t h e r a b s t r a c t, nondescript e n t i t y and t h a t i f one asked would receive X d i f f e r e n t i d e a s. I n checking w i t h our Medical f r i e n d s, I found t h a t t h e y too a r e Witness t h e following comments. "Throughowt 15 years of Conferences on aging sponsored by t h e Macy foundat i o n we never came t o an agreement 2.s t o what i s meant by aging...r. re a l l have only a vague idea of what we mean...the g e n e r a l consensus i s t h a t aging i s t h e progressive l o s s of f u n c t i o n a l capacity of an organism a f t e r it has reached reproductive puberty...yet, some s t e a d f a s t l y maintain t h a t aging commences with t h e onset of c e l l d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n. I ' i n t h e same dilemma regarding human aging, Since t h e word physiological r e f e r s t o t h e h e a l t h y functioning of an organism and maturity denotes t h e s t a t e of being f u l l y developed, a b a s i c d e f i n i t i o n might be " t h a t occasion i n a n a n i m a l ' s l i f e when a l l components a r e f u l l y developed and functioning i n a normal, healthy manner. Thus, p h y s i o l o g i c a l m a t u r i t y i s a f u n c t i o n of age. Unfortunately, a l l components of t h e animal do not reach t h i s point simult,aneously, and i n t h i s animal t o animal, organ t o organ v a r i a b i l i t y l i e s t h e d i f f i c u l t y i n a s s e s s i n g physiological maturity. A c a l f might be considered p h y s i o l o g i c a l l y mature as soon a s it i s capable o f functioni n g as a ruminant, C e r t a i n l y t h e h e a r t must mature during t h e embryonic s t a t e. Whereas, a muscle might not be considered mature u n t i l it can perform maximum work. This gives r i s e t o many questions such a s, what i s normal? abnormal? What does f u l l y developed mean? I s it t h e p o i n t a t which t h e s y n t h e s i s of p r o t e i n i s f o r r e p a i r m d maintenance r a t h e r t h a n f o r growth? Perhaps we can r e c o n c i l e t h e s e d i f f i c u l t i e s, a s a conference, during t h e d i s c u s s i o n period. The q u e s t i o n might even a r i s e as t o t h e a d v i s a b i l i t y of expending considerable research time i n d e f i n i n g and e l u c i d a t i n g p h y s i o l o g i c a l maturity. I b e l i e v e t h a t t h e obvious r e p l y i s yes i f we can u l t i m a t e l y c o n t r o l o r influence it t o our advantage. O f course, t h i s w i l l remain unknown u n t i l t h e t a s k i s undertaken. If t h e t a s k i s broached and f a i l u r e encountered, t h e n we've simply had some wonderful academic exercise. E i t h e r way, I l d say t h e green l i g h t should be on, so l e t ' s proceed. Where do we s t a r t? Well, it seems obvious t h a t we cannot b e g i n t h e quest with t h e i n t a c t animal, p e r se, because it i s t o o complex. Thus, we need t o subdivide t h e animal, l o g i c a l l y, so t h a t When we a t t a c k t h e problem with massed i n t e l l e c t u a l a r t i l l e r y, our e f f o r t s w i l l a t l e a s t be coordinated. I b e l i e v e t h a t a l o g i c a l d i v i s i o n of t h e animal would be on t h e b a s i s of i t s major t i s s u e s a s follows:

5 92. Epithelial tissue simple and stratified Their function is to cover the body surface, line body cavities, and to form the active parts of glands. Connective tissue General function is to bind other tissues together. They also lend form and strength to organs and serve for protection and leverage. Types of connective tissue are: (a) Collagenous White fibrous; (b) Elastic or yellow c.t.; (c) Aerolar provides cushioning (i.e. around blood vessels); (d) Reticular c.t. framework of certain organs; (e) Adipose c.t. fat; (f) Cartilage hyaline, elastic, fibrocartilage; Bone cancellous ( spongy), compact bone. Fluid Tissue Functions in the transportation of nutrients and waste products. (h) Muscular tissue Work, specialize in contraction smooth, striated. Nervous tissue Conduct nerve impulses. (A cut of meat can include all of these). What do we investigate about these tissues? Well, we are interested in their amount, and physical and chemical makeup; haw they are altered during growth and development of the animal; changes with time; and the influence of various treatment stimuli, as well as breed and sex differences. I might add that much research has been conducted along these lines, but not with the intent of identifying a physiological maturity end point. Also, much of this work is confounded with many other variables; consequently straightline effects are difficult, if not impossible, to determine. IV. Possible Physiological Maturity Indeces Let us now review some measures which have been suggested or might be suggested to assess physiological maturity. We are interested in the changerate curves of the following entities and would have to establish this for each specie. (1) Hexoseamine: Collagen ratio In studies on the growth of collagen and mucopolysaccharides of the femur and skin (rats) during aging, it was observed that the rate of deposition of collagen exceeded that of the mucopolysaccharides (determined as hexoseamine). (2) Susceptibility of Elastin fibers to enzyme or chemical Hydrolysis During maturation collagen fibers degrade to form a material deficient in Hydroxproline, which gives rise to elastin fibers which are susceptible to enzyme hydrolysis.

6 93. Ketosteriod: Corticoid ratio Adrenal corticoids have an antianabolic action. Androgens of the adrenal and testicular organs are anabolic. Urinary androgens diminish with age, while the excretion of corticoids is less affected by age. Changes in activity of Respiratory enzymes, cytochrome and succinic oxidases. Especially Changes in insoluble and soluble proteins. These change with aging, but the extraction conditions must be rigidly specified. Water: protein ratio. Water content of muscle decreases with age while the protein content increases. Albumin: globulin ratio. Increases with age. Changes in protein content of blood. There is a rapid initial increase followed by a period of slow change. Changes in dimensions of various anatomical units, i.e. sarcomere, fascicula, etc. Closing of epiphyseal plates. This controls the amount of long bone growth and is affected by female hormones. Other bone characteristics, i.e., composition etc. hardness, chemical Weight of eyeballs. This has been used in studies on the maturation of wild animals, Protein characteristics of the Iris. Could be determined via electrophoresis. Nuclear number. An end point of physiological maturity might be determined when the parameters of nuclear number (as D.N.A.) show no significant increase. No doubt, each of you could add to this list. Whether any or all of these measures would prove to be valid from our viewpoint is B matter of conjecture. Perhaps, as a conference, we could resolve this. It seems to me that the first thing we should do is to establish certain criteria for an index of physiological maturity. V. Criteria for an index of Physiological Maturity In order for a phenomenon to serve as a measure of physiological maturity it should possess the following characteristics. (1) We must be able to measure it with a high degree of precision. It would be desirable if we could determine the entity on the live animal.

7 94. It must change w i t h m a t u r i t y ( t i m e ) and be d i r e c t l y a s s o c i a t e d w i t h t h e maturing process (cause and e f f e c t relationship). The change ( i n 2 ) must be i r r e v e r s i b l e o r proceed i n only one d i r e c t i o n under normal circumstances. The change must occur w i t h i n c e r t a i n time l i m i t s (824 months f o r c a t t l e, s h o r t e r span f o r sheep and hogs). This could be a major problem. It must be r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of t h e whole r a t h e r t h a n a p e c u l i a r i t y of a p a r t. VI. Q u a l i t a t i v e C h a r a c t e r i s t i c s and Animal Maturity. Now t h a t we have reviewed some a s p e c t s of t h e terms Q u a l i t y and Physiological Maturity, I ' d l i k e t o spend t h e s e l a s t few minutes, i n summarizing some of t h e r e s e a r c h on t h e influence of m a t u r i t y ( i n most cases age)on meat q u a l i t y. I have omitted t h e a d j e c t i v e Physiological here because I do not b e l i e v e t h a t t h i s e n t i t y has been p r e c i s e l y i d e n t i f i e d i n t h e works I have studied. However, I do t h i n k t h a t it has been c l o s e l y approximated i n t h e r e s e a r c n u t i l i z i n g bone c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s a s t h e c r i t e r i a f o r maturity. 1. Ratio of l e a n t o f a t Since we've s a i d t h a t q u a l i t y includes q u a n t i t y, l e t ' s begin here. This r a t i o changes w i t h i n c r e a s e s i n body weight and age. It becomes smaller and l e s s d e s i r a b l e a f t e r a c e r t a i n point i n t h e animal's development o r maturation. Our d a t a show t h i s t o be a t ea. 75# of body weight o r 1011months of age, or when about 87% of t h e l e a n p o t e n t i a l i s deposited. Level of n u t r i t i o n simply a l t e r s t h e r a t e of change (13 months depending on r a t i o n ). T o t a l change w i l l be very s i m i l a r. 2. Color of l e a n The appearance of t h e cut meat surface depends upon t h e q u a n t i t y, and chemical and p h y s i c a l s t a t e of i t s p r o t e i n aceious pigment myoglobin. Color i s o f t e n expressed a s Hue, Chroma, and and Value, and may be influenced by a v a r i e t y of f a c t o r s, both a n t e postmortem. (Specie, breed, sex, age, anatomical l o c a t i o n of c u t, e x e r c i s e, n u t r i t i o n a l l e v e l, marbling, e t c. ) The antemortem f a c t o r s c o n t r o l t h e amount of pigment, while t h e postmortem f a c t o r s determine i t s chemical or p h y s i c a l s t a t e. I n general, beef becomes darker a s m a t u r i t y advances, The redness of Hue i n c r e a s e s w i t h age b u t t h e Value o r b r i g h t n e s s tends t o decrease. I n many s t u d i e s t h e intramuscular f a t content has had a profound influence on c o l o r r e s u l t s. 3. Marbling When we consider n u t r i e n t demand during growth and development, t h a t i s 1st f o r bone, 2nd f o r muscle, 3rd f o r f a t, it would seem t h a t d e p o s i t i o n of intramuscular f a t s would d e f i n i t e l y be r e l a t e d t o animal maturity. The a c t u a l influence of marbling, per se, on meat p a l a t a b i l i t y i s t h e s u b j e c t of much debate. I do not f e e l t h a t t h e i n fluence of marbling, a s a s e p a r a t e e n t i t y, has ever been adequately elucidated.

8 4. Water holding capacity Since it affects the appearance of the meat before cooking, its behavior during cooking, and its juiciness after cooking, the WHC of meat is very important. Many factors, such as, specie, age, muscle function, P.K glycolysis and ultimate ph have been shown to affect WC. In general IdHC diminishes as the animal matures. 5. Juiciness There has been much difference of opinion concerning this quality attribute and its influence by age or maturity. Some workers report a.n increase in juiciness with maturity or age, while others report opposite results. I believe that this conflict is due to the fact that juiciness is influenced not only by total moisture but also by fat, aroma, flavor. moi s t ure salivary definite due to a increase however, de tracts Thus while a young animal may have more total it doesn't have the fat and consequently aroma to stimulate the glands for a sustained "juicy sensation". 6. Flavor and aroma Apparently animal age or maturity has a enhancing effect on flavor and aroma. This, however, could be large extent on the increased fat content of older animals. The in flavor with advanced maturity is not a straight lined event, and there is a point (1824 mos.) beyond which age actually from flavor. 7. Tenderness Perhaps more effort has been expended in the study of this elusive characteristi? than any other quality attribute. Tenderness is influenced by all other quality attributes, either directly or indirectly, as well as by the state or architecture of many anatomical tissues. In general tenderness decreases with age or maturity, but, this decrease is by no means straight lined. The conflicting results which appear in the literature on quality research are to be expected, For, many of the quality attributes of meat, as well as the factors influencing them, have never been precisely determined. The xajor difficulty stems from the fact that no one attribute has ever been assessed independently of another. Perhaps this is impossible. Thus statistical methods must be utilized to remove the influence of a '1covariable;" and in so doing we introduce another problem. We cannot assess each variable with the same degree of precision or accuracy. Thus, the mathematical correction may be invalid, from a biological standpoint. The problem boils down to the fa.ct that we simply do not know enough about the behavior of the animal during growth and development. Also, our methodology Physical, Chemical, and Statistical needs to be coordinated. To me, the coordination of research effort should be one of the major functions of our association. One of the things that has seriously hampered Quality research has been the fact that it has been a byproduct of nutrition and genetic experiments. This has caused much confounding of the variables which are of interest to the meat scientist. If we are really going to answer our questions on quality and physiological maturity, we must work from the ground up. We need to set aside a breeding herd and produce and manage the animals so that we have the basic experimental units necessary to study animal behavior during growth and development and to adequately assess and relate animal quality attributes and physiological maturity.

9 96. DR. ZINN: To l e a d t h e d i s c u s s i o n t h i s afternoon, I have D r. J. L. McBee, West Virginia University, t o be your d i s c u s s i o n asked, l e a d e r. I ' m s u r e he w i l l f i e l d t h e questions t o t h e r i g h t person t o answer them a t t h i s time. Jim. DR. McBEE: Harold has presented a review paper covering a wide range of work which has been done on meat animal growth and composit i o n, p o i n t i n g out t h e way we have been going i n t h i s type of work. J i m has covered q u a l i t a t i v e r e l a t i o n s h i p s of meat animals as influenced by p h y s i o l o g i c a l maturity, and during h i s p r e s e n t a t i o n has r a i s e d a number of i n t e r e s t i n g questions. These two speakers pointed out t o me before t h e y began t h e s e s s i o n t h a t t h i s was t o be a period of r e c i p r o c a t i o n not of i n t e r r o g a t i o n. However, we would l i k e t o r e c e i v e opinions of anybody, questions t h a t anybody i n t h e audience has and t o r e a l l y r a i s e some d i s c u s s i o n during t h e a l l o t t e d time. 'who has t h e f i r s t question o r comment? DR. HUFFMAN: There was a question r a i s e d a t t h e r e c e n t conference a t t h e University of Missouri t h a t has bothered me and I ' v e discussed it w i t h s e v e r a l o t h e r s. I wonder i f you would speak on it very b r i e f l y. You may remember t h e discussion. It centered around t h e problem, i s body water i n a normal "physiologically mature" animal a constant? DR. GUENTHER: I'll answer you t h i s way. The d i s t i n g u i s h e d group t h a t attended t h a t conference d i d n ' t come t o a d e c i s i o n on t h i s, and I d o n ' t t h i n k I can. Laugh. DR. McBEE: I t h i n k t h a t answers your question. t h e next question? Anybody have any comments t o make? Who has MR. SULZEACHER: I h a t e t o see t h e afternoon g e t t i n g so d u l l so, I ' m going t o ask a f o o l i s h question. Why a r e we i n t e r e s t e d i n measuring p h y s i o l o g i c a l maturity? (Laugh). DR. GUENTHER: Foolish questions deserve a f o o l i s h answer. Like t h e o l d Prof. a t Oklahoma S t a t e d i d one time when he asked an i n d i v i d u a l how he placed a c l a s s of hogs. Kid says, "Well, Prof., what do you t h i n k about it?" Prof. says, "I d o n ' t t h i n k, I knowlll Kid says, "I d o n ' t t h i n k I know e i t h e r. " (Laugh), I b e l i e v e i f you r e f l e c t upon t h a t which i s s a i d i n j e s t, t h e r e may be a l o t o f t r u t h i n it. But a s I t r i e d t o p o i n t out i n my p a r t of t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n, B i l l, we won't know whether i t ' s worthwhile u n t i l we can a s s e s s it and run some r e l a t i o n s h i p s. I b e l i e v e t h a t ' s t h e way w e ' l l have t o l e a v e it. DR. McBEE: Who e l s e has something t o comment on? If t h e r e a r e n ' t a l o t of questions or comments a t t h i s time, we w i l l t u r n t h e program back over t o President J. W. Cole. (Applause). ###########