Abstract
Animal performance, carcass and meat quality characteristics of beef cull cows under different feeding strategies were evaluated. Cows were allotted to one of four direct grazing treatments combining different levels of forage allowance (FA) and supplementation rate (% of live body weight, BW) using rice bran (RB): T1= FA2%+RB0, T2= FA4%+RB0, T3= FA2%+RB0.8% and T4= FA2%+RB1.6%. Cows from T1 presented lower (P<0.05) slaughter weight (SW) than the other three treatments. Additionally, T1 presented lower weight (P<0.05) for rump and loin, striploin, sirloin, inside round and tri-tip, compared to T2, T3 and T4. Intramuscular fat (IMF), pH (48 h), Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF; aged for 7 or 21 days), lean colour, saturated fatty acid (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) concentrations did not differ among treatments (P>0.05). A strategic use of low RB supplementation rate grazing on an oats forage crop, improves both carcass and meat qualitry traits of cull cows, adding value and promoting healthy meat production for human consumption from grass-based production systems.
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