Vitamin A supplementation during the weaning phase and restriction during the finishing phase: fatty acid profile in F1 Angus-Nellore Cattle

• Grant number: 22/00310-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 28, 2022
• End date: October 03, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Production
• Principal Investigator: Otávio Rodrigues Machado Neto
• Grantee: Richard Vaquero Ribeiro
• Supervisor: Reinaldo Fernandes Cooke
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Texas A&M University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/06076-5 - Vitamin A supplementation during the weaning phase and restriction during the finishing phase: meat quality and lipogenic gene expression in F1 Angus - Nellore cattle, BP.IC

Abstract

The objective of this trial is to evaluate the effect of Vitamin A supplementation during the weaning phase end restriction during the finishing phase on fatty acid profile in beef from F1 Angus-Nellore cattle. Researches have demonstrated a positive effect of Vitamin A supplementation on adipocyte hyperplasia in skeletal muscle. . This nutrient can cause changes in fatty acid profile in beef. Beef fatty acid profile can affect product quality and consumer health. The animals used in this proposal will be the same as those of the FAPESP grant 2021/06076-5. Thus, 69 male F1 Angus-Nellore bulls, half-siblings, kept from 20 days of age until weaning under three treatments (n = 23 / treatment) were used: group 1 (G1) - without creep feeding and without supplementation with vitamin A (control); G2 - creep feeding + conventional supplementation with vitamin A; and G3 - creep feed + enriched supplementation with vitamin A (63,000 IU). The animals were weaned at 210 days after birth and then were subjected to finishing in feedlot for 160 days in collective pens receiving a diet containing 12.6% roughage and 87.4% corn concentrate. In feedlot phase, animals from G1 and G2 received a diet containing conventional levels of vitamin A (3174 IU); on the other hand, the animals from G3 received a diet with a low concentration of vitamin A (1174 IU). At slaughter, aliquots of the longissimus thoracis muscle (LT) from carcass and samples of the LT between the 12th and 13th ribs of the left half carcass were sampled. With the samples of LT muscle it can be determined the fatty acid profile. (AU)