Young Salers suckled bull production: effect of diet on performance, carcass and muscle characteristics and meat quality

Abstract

The aim of this work was to improve the knowledge on young suckled Salers bull production and to study the effect of forage type and concentrate level on performance, carcass and muscle characteristics as well as on meat quality. Twenty-four Salers male calves of 150 days of age were assigned to six groups: C0 (fed exclusively with hay and dam's milk and slaughtered at approximately 6 months of age), and HH (hay -high concentrate), HL (hay -low concentrate), GH (cut grass -high concentrate), GL (cut grass -low concentrate) and CP (control pasture: pasture -high concentrate) groups differing in feeds received until slaughter and slaughtered unweaned at approximately 10 months of age. Carcass weights averaged 210 kg at 10 months of age at slaughter. Average daily weight gain (ADWG) in HH and GH groups tended to be higher (P 5 0.09) than in HL and GL groups (1354 v. 1248 g/day). ADWG in CP group (1542 g/day) was higher (P , 0.05) than in the other groups. Carcass weight in CP group (230 kg) tended to be higher (P , 0.1) than in HL (198 kg) and GL (200 kg) groups. Carcass muscle weight was higher (P , 0.05) in GH (155 kg) and CP groups (165 kg) than in HL (141 kg) and GL (142 kg) groups. Carcass and offal fatty tissue weights and carcass fatness did not differ between groups. Neither forage type nor concentrate level had significant effect on the area of muscle fibres or on muscle metabolic enzyme activities (namely, lactate dehydrogenase -LDH, phosphofructokinase -PFK, isocitrate dehydrogenase -ICDH, citrate synthase -CS and cytochrome-c oxidase -COX). semitendinosus muscle of CP group presented higher CS enzyme activities (8.10 mmol/min per g) than HH (5.30 mmol/min per g) and GL (4.52 mmol/min per g) groups. Neither total nor insoluble collagen content significantly differed between groups. Lipid content in rectus abdominis muscle was relatively low (average 67.5 mg/g dry matter) and was not affected by diet (P . 0.05). The ratio between n-6 and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid content was lower (P 5 0.01) in the low-concentrate-fed than in the high-concentrate-fed group (3.95 v. 5.37, respectively). Sensory analysis noted that longissimus thoracis muscle from CP animals was more tender and juicy than that from HH and GH animals (P , 0.05).

Carcass Characteristics and Meat Quality of Swamp Buffaloes (<italic>Bubalus bubalis</italic>) Fattened at Different Feeding Intensities

“…Meat color is an important criterion by which many consumers evaluate meat quality and acceptability (Sami et al, 2006; Serrano et al, 2007). In the present study the feeding system had no effect on lightness (L*) of buffalo meat, whereas meat from concentrate-supplemented buffaloes was redder in color than of pasture-fed animals (p<0.01).…”

Traceability of grass feeding in beef: terpenes, 2,3-octanedione and skatole accumulation in adipose tissue of young bulls

“…The third group grazed highland (altitude 1100 m) pastures with rich botanical diversity, and was offered concentrate ad libitum (PH). The limited quantity of concentrates was adjusted daily to half that ingested by comparable growing animals receiving the same feed with concentrates offered ad libitum (Serrano et al, 2007b). The HL and GL calves were housed in individual pens separate from their mothers, but twice daily were given access to their mothers to suckle.…”

Effects of early weaning and breed on calf performance and carcass and meat quality in autumn-born bull calves

“…Consequently, total MUFA were slightly lesser in early weaned calves than in traditionally weaned calves (Table 6); however, the SFA, PUFA, and PUFA/SFA ratio of the two weaning treatments were similar, as these parameters are mainly related to the diet fed to calves (Serrano et al, 2007).…”