Effects of feeding two different blends of essential oils to finishing steers on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, meat composition, and shelf life

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate the effects of feeding two different commercially available blends of essential oils to finishing steers to replace conventional feed additives in feedlot diets. Angus-based crossbred steers (N=43; starting BW=466±31 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design. Steers were randomly assigned to four different dietary treatments for the 100-day finishing period in which steers were fed high moisture corn/alfalfa silage/soybean meal diets. Dietary treatments included a negative control (no additives; CON), a positive control (33 mg/kg monensin and 11 mg/kg tylosin added to the diet; M/T), and two different proprietary blends of essential oils [EO-1: 1 g/steer/day Victus Liv (DSM Nutritional Products) and EO-2: 4 g/steer/day Fortissa Fit 45 (Provimi Canada ULC)]. Growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, sensory attributes (excluding juiciness), most fatty acid parameters, and shelf-life (color and lipid oxidative stability) were generally unaffected by the inclusion of two different commercially available essential oil blends when compared with both a negative control (CON) and a positive control (M/T). This indicates that commercially available essential oil blends may show promise as a replacement to conventional feed additives like antibiotics without causing negative effects to meat quality, storage stability, and eating experience.

The Relationship between Lipid Content in Ground Beef Patties with Rate of Discoloration and Lipid Oxidation during Simulated Retail Display

“…The live portion of this research [ 16 , 17 , 18 ] was approved by the University of Guelph Animal Care Committee (Animal Utilization Protocol #3706). Cattle were received and managed in accordance with the Animal Utilization Protocol, which was approved based on the guidelines and principles of the Canadian Council on Animal Care [ 19 ].…”

“…All live animal procedures were previously described by Wang et al [ 16 ] and Dorleku et al [ 18 ]. Briefly, 68 Angus-cross steers were finished on a high-moisture corn, alfalfa silage, and soybean meal diet in 2017 for the Wang et al [ 16 ] study, and 76 Angus-cross steers were finished on a high-moisture corn, alfalfa silage, and soybean meal diet in 2018 for the Dorleku et al [ 18 ] study. Carcass characteristics and meat quality were previously described by Wang et al [ 17 ] and Dorleku et al [ 18 ].…”

“…Briefly, 68 Angus-cross steers were finished on a high-moisture corn, alfalfa silage, and soybean meal diet in 2017 for the Wang et al [ 16 ] study, and 76 Angus-cross steers were finished on a high-moisture corn, alfalfa silage, and soybean meal diet in 2018 for the Dorleku et al [ 18 ] study. Carcass characteristics and meat quality were previously described by Wang et al [ 17 ] and Dorleku et al [ 18 ]. From these two studies, a total of 138 carcasses were used for the current study (63 carcasses from the 2017 study and 75 carcasses from the 2018 study).…”

“…A total of 276 individual batches of ground beef were manufactured for this study over nine different production periods (i.e., independent ground beef processing events) with two different sets of finishing cattle (Wang et al [ 16 ] and Dorleku et al [ 18 ]). The sample size of each production period ranged from 22 to 44 independent ground beef grinds (30.67 samples ± a standard deviation of 6.16 samples).…”

“…Grind 1 and Grind 2 were from beef collected in Wang et al [ 16 ] and consisted of mixing 3.40 kg of cubed lean beef from the inside round with 1.14 kg of cubed subcutaneous fat from the beef ribs (Grind 1) or mixing 4.08 kg of cubed lean beef from the inside round with 0.46 kg of cubed subcutaneous fat from the beef ribs (Grind 2). Grind 3 and Grind 4 were from beef collected in Dorleku et al [ 18 ] and consisted of mixing 3.40 kg of cubed lean beef from the inside round with 1.14 kg of cubed subcutaneous fat from the beef ribs (Grind 3) or grinding 4.54 kg of cubed lean beef from the inside round without additional fat (Grind 4).…”