The chemical composition of carcasses can be predicted from proxy traits in finishing male beef cattle: A meta-analysis

Effects of metabolizable energy intake on post weaning lamb growth performance, carcass tissue composition and internal fat depend on animal characteristics: A meta-analysis

This study aimed to establish the quantitative relationship between metabolisable energy intake (MEI) and growth performance, carcass tissue composition and internal fat, taking into consideration animal precocity, maturity and tail nature. Data from 67 publications were used in the meta-analysis. Diets were characterized and three classes were identified (low medium and high energy density diets). Breeds were characterized according to tail nature, precocity and maturity stage. Average daily gain (ADG) responded to MEI in all animals weighing less than 60% of their adult weight regardless their precocity or their tail nature. At the same level of MEI, the higher the diet energy density, the higher the ADG. In animals weighing less than 42% of adult weight and receiving a high starch diet, carcass muscle and internal fat responded to MEI. Whereas, for animals that weighed between 43% and 75% of adult weight, increases in MEI influenced carcass adipose tissue.

Effect of high-concentrate diets with calcium lignosulfonate and cottonseed processing method on quantitative traits and non-carcass components of feedlot cull ewes

This study examined the effects of cottonseed processing form and the inclusion of calcium lignosulfonate in high-concentrate diets for feedlot cull ewes on carcass traits and non-carcass components. Thirty Santa Inês cull ewes with an average body weight of 44.2 ± 5.2 kg and an average age of 50 months were distributed into collective stalls in a completely randomized design. The treatments consisted of diets including whole cottonseed, crushed cottonseed, whole cottonseed treated with lignosulfonate (100 g/kg, as fed), crushed cottonseed treated with lignosulfonate (100 g/kg, as fed), and a control diet without cottonseed. The experimental diets did not influence (P>0.05) average daily weight gain (0.195 kg/day), slaughter weight (51.74 kg), or in vivo biometric and on-carcass measurements. There was no difference (P>0.05) in loin-eye area or subcutaneous fat thickness as evaluated in vivo by ultrasound. There was no diet effect on hot carcass weight and yield (24.8 kg and 47.8 %), cold carcass weight and yield (24.2 kg and 46.8 %), or chilling loss (2.1 %). Non-carcass components did not differ in response to the diets (P>0.05). Dietary inclusion of calcium lignosulfonate increases the proportions of udder and liver relative to empty body weight (P<0.05). Neither the cottonseed processing method nor the inclusion of calcium lignosulfonate in high-concentrate diets for cull ewes affects their performance, biometric or morphometric measurements, non-carcass components, or qualitative traits of their carcass.

The Impact of Feed Supplementations on Asian Buffaloes: A Review

Simple Summary

Apart from feeding with forages, dietary supplementation with concentrate and rumen bypass fat is one of the feeding strategies to enhance nutrient availability and improve buffalo performance and productivity. This review paper thoroughly discussed the utilization of concentrate and bypass fat as dietary supplementation in buffalo feeding, and discussed the effects on performance, fermentation characteristics and general health of buffaloes to give better insight about the potential and challenges of dietary supplementation in buffalo diet. Based on the literature studies, it can be summarized that supplementation of concentrate and bypass fat in buffaloes may overcome the nutritional problems and improve the growth performance, health status, rumen environment and carcass traits.

Abstract

With the increase in the global buffalo herd, the use of supplementation in the ruminant feeding has become an important area for many researchers who are looking for an isocaloric and isonitrogenous diet to improve production parameters. In order to improve the performance of the Asian water buffalo, the optimal balance of all nutrients, including energy and protein, are important as macronutrients. Dietary supplementation is one of the alternatives to enhance the essential nutrient content in the buffalo diet and to improve the rumen metabolism of the animal. Researchers have found that supplementation of concentrate and rumen bypass fat could change growth performance and carcass traits without causing any adverse effects on the buffalo growth. Some studies showed that dry matter intake, body condition score and some blood parameters and hormones related to growth responded positively to concentrate and rumen bypass fat supplementation. In addition, changes of feeding management by adding the supplement to the ruminant basal diet helped to increase the profit of the local farmers due to the increased performance and productivity of the animals. Nevertheless, the effects of dietary supplementation on the performance of ruminants are inconsistent. Thus, its long-term effects on the health and productivity of buffaloes still need to be further investigated.

European conformation and fat scores of bovine carcasses are not good indicators of marbling

Marbling is one of the primary carcass attributes utilized in most beef grading systems for eating quality evaluation. In Europe, the current beef grading system is the EUROP grid, which is focused on carcass commercial value and production yield rather than eating quality estimation. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between marbling and the most common scores for carcass classification in Europe. If there are strong associations between marbling and European classification scores, marbling score may be estimated from the carcass characteristics. However, this study indicated that European classification scores explain only a slight proportion of the variance in marbling score (32%, 46%, 34% and 21% for the entire cattle group, young bulls, females and steers, respectively). Therefore, whereas the EUROP grid is well adapted to estimate yield, it does not reflect marbling at all. The European beef industry should take into account additional indicators related to beef palatability to assist the determination of the commercial value of carcasses.

Assessment of cattle inter-individual cluster variability: the potential of continuum data from the farm-to-fork for ultimate beef tenderness management

BACKGROUND

This study implemented a holistic approach based on the farm-to-fork data at the four levels of the continuum (farm - slaughterhouse - muscle - meat) to study the inter-individual cluster variability of beef tenderness. For that, 171 young bulls were selected on a large database of 480 animals according to the industrial expectations based on animal and carcass characteristics. The targeted factors were age at slaughter (14; 20 months), carcass weight (370; 470 kg), EUROP conformation (7; 15) and fatness (2.5; 5) scores of the carcasses. Multivariate analyses and unsupervised learning tools were performed.

RESULTS

Principal component analysis combined to agglomerative hierarchical clustering allowed ten clusters to be identified that differed (P < 0.0001) for the four targeted factors. The clusters were further different for variables belonging to each level of the continuum. The results indicated an inter-individual cluster variability rising in tenderness in link with the continuum data grouped according to industrial expectations. The associations of the whole variables of the continuum with tenderness were very important, but farm-to-fork continuum-levels dependent. The findings showed that the variables contributing most to the inter-individual cluster variability of tenderness seemed to be more related to the rearing practices, mainly feeding, and their consequences on carcass properties rather than to the muscle characteristics evaluated by enzyme metabolism and connective tissue.

CONCLUSION

It seems that considering the continuum data would allow possible trade-off managements of tenderness to identify levers at different levels from the farm-to-meat. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.

Contribution of nutrient fluxes to the evolution of the net energy systems, example of the INRA feeding system for beef cattle

Energy feeding systems define energy as a whole, but progress made to define metabolizable energy (ME) as the sum of the metabolizable nutrients produced by digestion and available for tissue metabolism in a wide range of nutritional situations opens the way to quantitatively model and predict nutrient fluxes between and within tissues and organs and improve predictions of energy use. This review addresses the contribution of nutrient flux concepts and data to the evolution of the Institut de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) energy feeding system for growing and fattening cattle and evaluates the outcomes on the net energy (NE) requirements. It summarizes recent progress made to quantitatively predict nutrient fluxes both at digestive and visceral levels. It reviews how nutrient flux concepts and results were introduced in the recently updated INRA feeding system, resulting in improvements in the accuracy of the revised digestible energy (DE) and ME value of diets. The use of an independent database showed that for diets fed to fattening cattle, DE and ME concentrations were downgraded for low-energy-dense diets and upgraded for high-energy-dense diets. We are also showing that compared with its previous version, the updated INRA system improves the quantitative relationship between ME supply and flows of metabolizable nutrients. Evidence is provided on how measured nutrient fluxes at portal level were used to evaluate the predicted flows of metabolizable nutrients. This review then revisits the NE values of diets for fattening cattle as defined by the INRA feeding system and not updated yet. Using an independent database and at similar ME intake, carcass composition was shown to be linearly related to the energy density of diets for fiber-rich diets but not for concentrate-rich diets, suggesting that the efficiency of energy utilization of ME into NE is not linearly related to differences in the composition of the gain. Accounting for the balance of metabolizable nutrients or their proxies in models used to predict carcass composition from ME intake can improve predictions. Overall partitioning aggregated energy fluxes into their subcomponent nutrient fluxes in a more physiological approach offers promising perspectives for the evolution of NE feeding systems.

Can the body composition of crossbred dairy cattle be predicted by equations for beef cattle?

Objective

The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficiency of the Hankins and Howe (HH46), Valadares Filho (V06), and Marcondes (M12) equations for predicting the physical and chemical composition of dairy crossbred bulls carcasses, as well as the chemical composition of their empty bodies.

Methods

This study was conducted using 30 dairy crossbred bulls. One group of five animals was slaughtered at the beginning of the experiment, and the remaining were slaughtered 112 days later. Animals were distributed in a completely randomized design into treatments consisting different levels of concentrate (0%, 17%, 34%, 51%, and 68%). The physical and chemical compositions of the cattle were obtained from the right half of the carcass and using samples taken between the 9th and 11th ribs of the left half of the carcass. The estimated and experimentally determined values were compared using the correlation and concordance coefficient, as well as the mean square error of prediction (MSEP) and its components.

Results

The HH46 equations were better at estimating the amount of muscle plus fat in the carcass. The amount of bone in the carcasses could not be well estimated by the HH46 and M12 models. The M12, HH46, and V06 equations were worst at estimating the amounts of protein, ether extract, and water in the carcass, respectively. In the empty body, the amounts of protein and water were well estimated by the HH46 equations. Protein, ether extract, and water were accurately estimated by the V06 equations, and ether extract by the M12 equations.

Conclusion

The physical and chemical composition of dairy crossbred bull carcasses, as well as the chemical composition of their empty bodies, can be predicted using the equations tested here. The amount of bone in these carcasses could not be accurately predicted.