Abstract
This work was conducted with the objective of verifying the effects of increasing the corn silage harvest height from 16 to 46 cm, associated to 16 or 30% of concentrate level on total dry matter offered, on carcass and meat characteristics of young steers. Twenty-four Braford calves, weaned at three months of age, were finished in feedlot from seven to twelve months, when they were slaughtered. The commercial carcass cuts, metric carcass measurements, such as the bone, muscle and fat percentages and carcass tissues ratios were not affected by the silage harvest height and diet concentrate level used. On the other hand, meat of steers fed with low concentrate level had lower thawing loss (5.05 vs. 8.03%) resulting in higher juiciness (7.14 vs. 6.74 points), although the meat showed darker coloration than the meat of the other steers (3.17 vs. 4.00 points). The comparison between harvest heights showed that meat of steers fed with silage harvested at 16 cm from the soil had higher juiciness (7.18 vs. 6.69 points), as the result showed lower thawing loss (4.70 vs. 8.38%) and lower cooking loss (17.11 vs. 22.33%).KEYWORDS: Braford, carcass composition, meat quality, roughage, silage quality.
Highlights
Na bovinocultura de corte de ciclo completo, a redução de idade de abate dos machos representa um ponto importante ao incremento dos índices produtivos e eficiência do estabelecimento rural como empresa, no entanto somente é viável se os novilhos atingirem um grau de acabamento adequado às exigências do mercado
This work was conducted with the objective of verifying the effects of increasing the corn silage harvest height from 16 to 46 cm, associated to 16 or 30% of concentrate level on total dry matter offered, on carcass and meat characteristics of young steers
The commercial carcass cuts, metric carcass measurements, such as the bone, muscle and fat percentages and carcass tissues ratios were not affected by the silage harvest height and diet concentrate level used
Summary
O experimento foi realizado no Setor de Bovinocultura de Corte do Departamento de Zootecnia da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM), no período compreendido entre maio e dezembro. As carcaças avaliadas foram provenientes de 24 bezerros inteiros da raça Braford (3/8 Nelore 5/8 Hereford), desmamados precocemente aos 88 dias e mantidos em confinamento até os sete meses de idade. Ao início do experimento (sete meses), os bezerros apresentavam peso vivo médio de 221,2 kg. A terminação em confinamento teve a duração de 158 dias, sendo então os animais abatidos aos doze meses de idade, quando atingiram peso vivo médio de 390,4 kg. Os tratamentos corresponderam às dietas experimentais, as quais se constituíram de duas alturas de. Efeitos da altura de colheita da silagem de milho e do nível de concentrado sobre as características. Colheita da silagem de milho, denominadas corte baixo (16 cm) e corte alto (46 cm), associadas a dois níveis de concentrado, 16% e 30% em base seca, ou seja, relação volumoso/concentrado de 84/16 e 70/30.
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