Feedlot performance, carcass charac teristics and meat quality of Nellore and Canchim bulls fed diets supplemented with vitamins D and E

Samira   Rodrigues Baldin; Danilo   Domingues Millen; Cyntia   Ludovico Martins; Angélica Simone  Cravo Pereira; Robson   Sfaciotti Barducci; Mário   de Beni Arrigoti

Feedlot performance, carcass charac teristics and meat quality of Nellore and Canchim bulls fed diets supplemented with vitamins D and E

Autores

Samira Rodrigues Baldin

Danilo Domingues Millen

Cyntia Ludovico Martins

Angélica Simone Cravo Pereira

Robson Sfaciotti Barducci

Mário de Beni Arrigoti

Editor

Universidade Estadual de Maringá

Descripción

This experiment was conducted at Unesp feedlo t facility, campus of Botucatu, and aimed to evaluate the supplementation of D and E vitamins on animal performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of yearling bulls finished in feedlot. Thirty-six 7-mo-old yearling bulls, 18 Nellore (NEL) and 18 Canchim (CAC), with average initial body weight of 234.53 ± 22.15 and 248.13 ± 34.67 kg, respectively, were fed for 126 days. Nine NEL and nine CAC year ling bulls were daily supplemented with 1300 IU of vitamin E and 7.5 x 10 6 IU of vitamin D 3 for 67 days and 10 days before slaughter, respectively. One day before slaughter, blood samples were collected for evaluation of Ca concentration. After chilling, Longissimus muscle (LM) samples were collected for analysis of shear force, myofibrillar fragmentation index, total lipids, D and E vitamins concentrations, and meat shelf life. An increased level of plasma Ca (p < 0.01) was observed due to vitamin supplementati on, showing the action of vitamin D on the animal organism. However, there was no effect (p > 0.05) of vitamins D and E on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality.