| Grant number: | 99/05195-5 |
| Support Opportunities: | Research Projects - Thematic Grants |
| Start date: | February 01, 2000 |
| End date: | January 31, 2006 |
| Field of knowledge: | Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production |
| Principal Investigator: | Antonio Carlos Silveira |
| Grantee: | Antonio Carlos Silveira |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil |
| Pesquisadores principais: | Henrique Nunes de Oliveira |
Abstract
"Super-young" steers am animals finished on feedlot immediately after weaning and slaughtered as 13 month-olds at the most, weighing at least 450 kg. These animals should also have back fat thickness above 3.0 mm, which, associated with the animals youth, will guarantee the quality of meat and its by-products. This system takes advantage of maximum biological efficiency, which can basically be defined as live weight gain over energy in take. It provides an excellent model of intensive cattle rearing. The "super-young" model allows the evaluation of growth rate and of the transformations and development of body tissues, notably muscles and skeleton, occurring during the fast (self-accelerating) growth phase. Growth is an increase in body mass occurring via hyperplasia (cell multiplication) and hypertrophy (increase in cell volume) of various tissues. During the foetal phase, growth is characterized by intense hyperplasia in all tissues, where as skeleton and muscle hypertrophy predominate from birth to puberty (self-accelerating growth). The purpose of this project is to evaluate the effects of manipulating genetic factors and modifying diets (feedstuffs, feed management and supplements) on tissue transformation and development during the self-accelerating phase, with the aim of increasing biological efficiency in the "super-young" model. Thus the objective of this project is to investigate, through this biological model of intensive meat production, the following items: a) muscle and skeleton tissue growth from birth to weaning; b) muscle and skeleton tissue growth from weaning to finishing; c) study of feedstuffs, supplements and feed management for maximum exploitation of muscle and skeleton growth in all phases; d) study and characterization of genes involved in carcass growth and composition in "super-young" cattle; e) development of suitable methods for the study of carcass characteristics and meat quality. (AU)
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