Effects of feeding strategies including different proportion of pasture and concentrate, on carcass and meat quality traits in Uruguayan steers

Eighty four steers were randomly assigned to three pasture treatments with increasing levels of grain (T1: 0%; T2: 0.6%; T3: 1.2% of live weight) and to an ad libitum concentrate treatment, T4, to study the effects on carcass and meat quality. Animals were slaughtered with 500 kg of average live weight per treatment. Average daily gain increased with increasing levels of energy, determining different slaughter dates. Intermediate treatments showed higher carcass weight than T1. T4 and T3 had a higher weight of valuable cuts than T1 and T4. Pistolas from T4 had a higher fat proportion and lower bone percentage. Increasing levels of energy in diet decreased fat yellowness. After 20 days of aging, T4 had the lowest muscle a∗ values and shear force was higher for T4 than for T1. With pastures finishing strategy, no adverse effects on meat quality were detected and tenderness was enhanced.