title: Carcass fat partitioning and meat quality of Alentejana and Barrosã young bulls fed high or low maize silage diets.
abstract: This study assessed the effect of breed and diet on carcass composition, particularly fat partitioning, and meat quality in young bulls. An experiment with forty young bulls from two phylogenetically distant Portuguese bovine breeds, Alentejana and Barrosã, fed two diets with different maize silage to concentrate ratios, but isoenergetic and isonitrogenous, was carried out until the animals reached 18 months of age. In the longissimus lumborum muscle, Barrosã bulls fed the low silage diet had the highest intramuscular fat (IMF) content. Bulls fed the low silage diet also had the highest IMF content in the semitendinosus muscle. Diet determined the proportions of total visceral fat and individual fat depots. Under these experimental conditions, it was shown that the genetic background is a major determinant of carcass composition and meat quality, and that the dietary differences studied had limited effect on carcass composition.
authors.affiliation: CIISA, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Av. da Universidade Técnica, Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, 1300-477 Lisboa, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana S H
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Paulo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Rui J B
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Bessa
authors.forename: José P C
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Lemos
authors.forename: Jorge A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Simões
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Santos-Silva
authors.forename: Carlos M G A
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Fontes
authors.forename: José A M
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Prates
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D001823:Body Composition; D001947:Breeding; D002417:Cattle; D004032:Diet; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism; D002149:Energy Intake; D050152:Intra-Abdominal Fat / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000378:metabolism*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012820:Silage; D003313:Zea mays
chemical_list: D004041:Dietary Fats; D009584:Nitrogen