Performance in the termination and carcass and meat quality of cattle in integrated crop-livestock-forest system

Author(s)

Patrícia Aparecida Cardoso da Luz

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp)
• Defense date: 2017-06-30
• Advisor: André Mendes Jorge; Cristiana Andrighetto; Gelci Carlos Lupatini

Abstract

Integrated Crop-livestock Systems (ICLS) are strategy to increase productivity and income for the farmers while simultaneously achieving sustainability. However, its effects on the carcass and meat quality of the animals produced in it need to be elucidated. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and carcass and meat characteristics of Nellore cattle finished in ICLS without shade availability (integrated crop-livestock: ICL) and with two tree densities (integrated crop-livestock-forest, ICLF, at 196 trees/ha and 448 trees/ha). The experimental design was in complete blocks, with three treatments (ICL, ICLF-1L and ICLF-3L) and four replicates per treatment, totaling 12 experimental plots. Sixty castrated Nellore cattle of approximately 28±2.81 months of age and mean weight at 385.71±27.17 kg were used for the performance evaluation. After the slaughter of the animals, 48 samples of the longissimus thoracis muscle were collected for carcass and meat quality analyzes. There were no differences (P>0.05) between the treatments for the average daily gain and final live weight, contributing to the absence of difference in weight and yield of the hot carcass, forequarter, special hindquarter and flank (P>0.05). Similarly, no were found difference (P>0.05) between treatments for initial and final ribeye area, initial and final backfat thickness, marbling, pH and glycogen, both measured at 2 h and 24 h post mortem. The proximate composition, cholesterol, pH, cooking loss, shear force, collagen, meat color and microbiological analysis presented no differences (P>0.05) among the evaluated treatments. However, there was a tendency of a lower amount of C17:1ω9 and C20:4ω6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (P=0.05 and P=0.06, respectively) and a higher thrombogenicity index (P=0.08) in the ILPF-3L system. Besides, lower ratio of AGM/AGP (P=0.03) in the same system. Concludes that the introduction of the trees in the pasture does not interfere in the performance, in the carcass characteristics and in the composition and physical and microbiological quality of the meat of Nellore cattle. However, the system with higher density of trees produces meat with a tendency to lower quality in the nutritional aspect of fatty acids. (AU)