Effect of days in feedlot on growth performance, carcass and meat quality attributes of Tanzania shorthorn zebu steers

Abstract

A study was conducted on 50 steers (183 ± 4 kg initial body weight, 3 years of age) to assess effects of days in feedlot on performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of Tanzania shorthorn zebu (TSZ) cattle with the aim of determining appropriate finishing period. Periods were 0 day (P0), 25 days (P25), 50 days (P50), 75 days (P75) and 100 days (P100) with 10 animals per period. Steers were housed in individual pens, fed with a concentrate diet and hay on an ad libitum basis except the P0 group which was slaughtered at the beginning of trial. Long stay in feedlot, P100, increased concentrate dry matter intake by 2 kg DM/day over short stay, P25. Final weight and total gain increased (P < 0.05) from P25 (22.6 kg) to P100 steers (95.4 kg). Periods had no influence (P > 0.05) on an average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) but affected carcass characteristics. Empty body weight (EBW) and hot carcass weight (HCW) increased by 61 and 65 %, respectively, from no feedlot, P0 to P100. Dressing percentage was high (P < 0.05) for P100 steers. Carcass measurements, internal fat, fat thickness and carcass total fat were the highest (P < 0.05) on P100 steers and the lowest on P0 steers. Rate of pH decline increased with days in feedlot, while cooking loss and shear force values decreased in advanced ageing time. Feedlot periods of 75 and 100 days resulted into high intake, carcass measurements and tenderness, but 100 days further increased carcass fatness and fat thickness levels, thus, with this particular feeding system and animal's condition, 75 days is the recommended period to finish TSZ cattle in feedlots.

Dietary supplementation with Essential-oils-cobalt for improving growth performance, meat quality and skin cell capacity of goats

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Meta-analysis of carcass and meat characteristics of young or super young steers and of different sexual conditions finished in confinement

“…Because the fat covering the carcasses is a determining factor for the protection and quality of the meat, which requires a minimum degree to guarantee a correct transformation of the muscle into meat during the maturation process (Baldassini et al, 2016) . The degree of finishing of the carcasses, in addition to being affected by sexual condition (Venkata Reddy et al, 2015) and the age of the animal (Bures & Barton, 2012), it is also affected by breed (He et al, 2020), period and finishing weight (Asimwe et al, 2015), dietary energy level (Nassu et al, 2017) and fetal programming (Mohrhauser et al, 2015). Although the thickness of subcutaneous fat in uncastrated steers was lower than that of castrated ones, it met the minimum requirement of 3 mm.…”

Growth performance, body composition, carcass traits and meat quality of young Nellore bulls fed freshly cut or ensiled sugar cane

“…Feed efficiency decreased in bulls fed more fibrous roughage, which may suggest that the concentrate level used would have a greater influence on carcass yield by its direct effect on the content of the digestive tract when weighing the animal while still alive, and this difference tended to disappear with advanced fasting times (Asimwe et al, 2015).…”