Performance and carcass and meat characteristics of beef cattle and pasture finished in the dry period supplementation with different offers and forage

• Grant number: 11/17222-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2011
• End date: October 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Cristiana Andrighetto
• Grantee: Aline Sampaio Aranha
• Host Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus Experimental de Dracena. Dracena , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The high age of slaughter in pasture production systems is because in the dry season, in Central Brazil, shows decrease in both the availability and quality of tropical pastures. The use of supplementation for cattle in the dry season before slaughter reduces consequently improving the quality of meat and carcass. The aims of project is to evaluate the performance and carcass characteristics of cattle grazing forage with different forage offers and the effects of supplementation in categories of beef cattle (steers and heifers) during the dry season and thus provide data that can contribute for improve the meat and carcass quality. The experiment will be conducted in APTA Pólo Regional do ExtremoOeste, located in Andradina. The design is a randomized block with three replications in a 2 x 2 factorial, with two categories of beef cattle (steers and heifers) and two forage offers, resulting in four treatments. Two forage offers will be used (Brachiariabrizantha cv. Marandu), high (10 - 15 kg DM/ 100 kg BW) and average (6 - 8 kg DM/ 100 kg BW). Thirty six beef cattle Guzera (18 steers and 18 heifers) will be used in the finishing phase, with initial weight of 330 a 370 kg and about 18 months old, an experimental period divided into five periods of 28 days during the dry season. Will be evaluated the performance, yield carcass, ribeye area, fat thickness, pH, marbling, color meat and centesimal composition. The data will be analyzed statistically using the program R (R Development Core Team, 2006) for the statistical analysis of variance and Tukey test at a significance level of 5%.The data will be analyzed statistically using the program R (R Development Core Team, 2006) for the statistical analysis of variance and Tukey test at a significance level of 5%.