Carcass and meat characteristics of steers or bulls, finished in feedlot and fed with diets containing three levels of concentrate

Abstract

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate quantitative and qualitative characters of carcass and meat from bulls and steers finished in feedlot during a 116 day period, in individual stalls and fed with a diet of corn silage and three levels of concentrate (0.70; 0.97 and 1.23% of body weight). The concentrate was formulated with 25% soybean meal, 73% of ground corn grain 1% of a mineral mix and 1% of limestone. A total of 169 composite Purunã animals, being 94 bulls and 75 steers with average age of 20 months. The interaction between physiological condition and level of concentrate was not significant (P>0.05) for any of the studied variables. Likewise, no effect of level of concentrate was detected upon the same traits. The bulls presented heavier slaughter weight (493.1 kg) in comparison with the steers (450.0 kg) as well as higher carcass yield (55.2 vs. 53.5%), resulting in a hot carcass weight 12.1% heavier than bulls animals, though with a lower degree of carcass finishing (3.6 vs. 4.2 mm, respectively). Bulls produced carcasses with better conformation and higher area of Longissimus dorsi (68.6 vs. 63.3 cm2), and higher percentage of muscle in comparison with castrated (66.5 vs. 62.8%). The meat from bulls was darker and with lower degree of marbling in relation to steers. Nevertheless, no differences were observed for tenderness nor for juiciness, though steers had more palatable meat.