Meat quality and fatty acid composition of pasture-finished beef steers fed barley and soybeans

Abstract

Duynisveld, J. L., Charmley, E. and Mir, P. 2006. Meat quality and fatty acid composition of pasture-finished beef steers fed barley and soybeans. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 86: 535-545. The effect of supplemention on the performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, and fatty acid composition of pasture-finished cattle was studied. Thirty-two steers were assigned to four treatments in a randomized block design. Treatments were: totally mixed ration (TMR) [confinement-fed total mixed ration (60% grass silage, 40% rolled barley], pasture only (rotationally grazed temperate mixed pasture); pasture plus barley (the same pasture plus 4.5 kg DM hd -1 d -1 rolled barley) and pasture plus soybeans (the same pasture plus 1.8 kg DM hd -1 d -1 whole roasted soybeans). Steers were slaughtered after 105 d on test. Tissue samples were collected at slaughter for analysis of meat quality and fatty acid content. Dry matter (DM) intakes were greater for TMR-fed cattle (P < 0.05). Among the pasture-fed cattle those fed barley (P < 0.05) consumed more total DM than those given pasture alone. Rates of BW gain were higher for TMR-fed steers than those fed pasture only (P < 0.05). Carcass weights and dressing percentage were similar across all treatments. Feeding barley or soybeans on pasture increased backfat thickness (P < 0.05), but the pasture-only cattle had greater loin eye area (P < 0.05). Pasture-only beef had more thaw drip loss (P < 0.05) and less cooking drip loss (P < 0.05) than TMR-fed beef. Evaporative cooking losses were greater in beef from unsupplemented pasture than from barley-or soybean-supplemented pasture (P < 0.05). Pasture-only beef had 25% more polyunsaturated fatty acids and 37% greater cis-9, trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) concentrations in longisimus thoracis (l. thoracis) tissue than TMR-fed beef (P < 0.05). Among pasture-fed cattle, soybean supplementation increased C18:2 concentration by 34% (P < 0.05), while barley reduced C18:3 concentration by 8% (P < 0.05) in l. thoracis tissue. Soybean supplementation increased cis-9, trans-11 CLA concentration by 30% (P < 0.05) in l. thoracis tissue over pasture only. Beef finished on pasture has higher levels of beneficial fatty acids than TMR-fed beef, with few differences in meat quality. Supplementation on pasture improves animal performance, but barley has some negative effects on beneficial fatty acids in meat. Les auteurs se sont intéressés à l'incidence des suppléments sur la performance, les paramètres de la carcasse, la qualité de la viande et la composition des acides gras des bovins finis au pâturage. Pour cela, ils ont réparti 32 bouvillons entre quatre traitements selon un dispositif en blocs aléatoires. Les traitements étaient les suivants :TMR (ration mixte totale fournie en claustration -60 % d'ensilage d'herbe, 40 % de flocons d'orge); paissance (pâturage mixte de région tempérée en rotation); paissance plus orge (même pâturage plus 1,8 kg de matière sèche par tête et par jour sous forme de flocons d'orge); paissance plus soja (même pâtura...

Productive performance, meat quality and fatty acid profile of steers finished in confinement or supplemented at pasture

“…The levels of CLA observed in this experiment were slightly higher than those observed by Realini et al (2004) for grazing and confined animals and lower than those observed by Duynisveld et al (2006). Poulson et al (2004) observed similar levels of CLA to this experiment in meat (Longissimus dorsi and Semitendinosus) from feedlot Angus crossbred steers in the USA and higher than those observed for animals finished on pasture or fed pasture throughout their life.…”

“…Some research indicates that in finishing systems, the SFAs present in greater quantities in bovine IMF are palmitic, stearic and myristic, respectively (Realini et al, 2004;Nuernberg et al, 2005;Garcia et al, 2008;Alfaia et al, 2009). However, there is high variability in the concentration of these FAs in different experiments and when different diets are fed (French et al, 2003;Duynisveld et al, 2006;Blanco et al, 2010;Duckett et al, 2013).…”

“…= 0.41; P = 0.05) for pasture animals, indicating that the meat was lighter with increased level of supplementation. Others have reported no differences between the color of meat in steers that received different levels of concentrate (French et al, 2001;Duynisveld et al, 2006).…”

Meat lipid profile of steers finished in pearl millet pasture with different rates of concentrate

“…Therefore, energy supplementation used in the present study seems not to have been effective on ruminal biohydrogenation, since it caused no changes of the concentrations of vaccenic acid and CLA cis-9-trans-11. The production of CLA can also be related to higher intake of polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially linoleic acid (Duynisveld et al, 2006); however, the high content of this fatty acid in the concentrate fraction of the diet (Table 1) was not enough to promote changes in the CLA content in meat from animals grazing pearl millet. In grazing systems, other factors such as the proportions of leaf and stem, as well as the forage maturity, may determine the percentage of PUFA (Boufaïed et al, 2003).…”

Performance and Carcass Quality of Forage-Fed Steers as an Alternative to Concentrate-Based Beef Production

“…In the current experiment, weight loss due to transportation was on average 6.8%, similar to what Arthington et al (2003) reported in weaned calves transported for 3 h. In the present study the steers needed 30 days to attain the weight previous to transportation, but Phillips et al (1987) reported shorter periods to recover pre-transportation weight. Besides of the transportation losses, when cattle are turned-out to pasture they loose weight and may need 10-18 d to recover the loss (Nams and Martin, 2007) Duynisveld et al (2006). It could be suggested that the mobility of the pasture finished steers could have decreased the energy available for growth.…”