EFFECTS OF CORN SILAGE HARVEST HEIGHT AND CONCENTRATE LEVEL ON CARCASS AND MEAT CHARACTERISTICS OF BRAFORD YOUNG STEERS

Abstract

This work was conducted with the objective of verifying the effects of increasing the corn silage harvest height from 16 to 46 cm, associated to 16 or 30% of concentrate level on total dry matter offered, on carcass and meat characteristics of young steers. Twenty-four Braford calves, weaned at three months of age, were finished in feedlot from seven to twelve months, when they were slaughtered. The commercial carcass cuts, metric carcass measurements, such as the bone, muscle and fat percentages and carcass tissues ratios were not affected by the silage harvest height and diet concentrate level used. On the other hand, meat of steers fed with low concentrate level had lower thawing loss (5.05 vs. 8.03%) resulting in higher juiciness (7.14 vs. 6.74 points), although the meat showed darker coloration than the meat of the other steers (3.17 vs. 4.00 points). The comparison between harvest heights showed that meat of steers fed with silage harvested at 16 cm from the soil had higher juiciness (7.18 vs. 6.69 points), as the result showed lower thawing loss (4.70 vs. 8.38%) and lower cooking loss (17.11 vs. 22.33%).

KEYWORDS: Braford, carcass composition, meat quality, roughage, silage quality.