ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to assess a training protocol employed in the Brazilian Northeast region for fitness conditioning of vaquejada horses. For 12 months, 24 Quarter Horses were evaluated under a completely randomized split-plot experimental design in which the plots comprised three age groups: horses at two, three, and four years of age. The split plots were made up of six fitness tests carried out every other month. The fitness test protocol consisted of five levels of […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the levels of replacement of ground corn by forage cactus meal in the diet on the muscularity and adiposity of carcass of Santa Inês lambs finished at feedlot. This study was carried out at Estação Experimental de Pendência, belonging to Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuária da Paraíba S.A. (EMEPA-PB). Forty male Santa Inês lambs in feedlot were used in the experiment. Treatments were randomly assigned to the animals according to […]

This experiment evaluated carcass traits and yields of comercial cuts and tissue evaluation of 20 Morada Nova lambs fed diets with fruit-refuse of melon replacing 0, 30, 60 or 100% of ground corn. The animals with 15 kg of initial body weight and at 6 six months of age were kept confined in individual pens and slaughtered with 26 kg of weight. It was used a completely randomized experimental design, with four treatments (levels of ground corn replaced by melon […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate tissue composition of loin and leg and fatty acids profile of the meat of lambs in four finishing systems: (1) lambs weaned around 40 days of age and kept in ryegrass pastures until slaughter; (2) lambs kept with their dams in the same pasture until slaughter; (3) same treatment of (2), but daily supplemented with 1% of the body weight in creep feeding; (4) lambs weaned at 40 days of age and […]

The objective on this study was to assess the effects of gender and concentrate allowance level (0.6 and 1.2 % body weight) on body composition and deposition of the main body tissues and chemical components of the empty body weight in Nellore cattle of different gender (bulls, steers and heifers). Thirty five animals were used, fed individually for 112 days, and then slaughtered. A reference group was slaughtered at the beginning of the trial, with average body weight of 338 […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feed supplementation on the chemical and tissue composition of leg and loin from carcass of Santa Inês lambs, finished on pasture. Twenty-four castrated 3 to 4 month-old Santa Inês lambs were used, initial live body weight (LW) 15.8 kg, distributed in three concentrate supplementation levels (0.0, 1.0 and 1.5% LW). A randomized complete design was used, with three treatments and eight replications (lambs). The leg and loin were dissected […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate quantitative characteristics and carcass regional and tissue composition of lambs submitted to different energy levels (2.23, 2.54 and 2.85 Mcal ME/kg DM) in the diet and slaughtered with 32.2 ± 3.8 kg body weight and at average age of 145.6 ± 20.1 days. The diets were isoproteic (16.70% CP) and fed to 18 no castrated crossbred Texel male lambs. The lambs were confined in individual pens, in a slotted floor sheep barn. […]

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the yield and quality of the carcass and meat cuts from kids of both sexes, slaughtered at three different ages, aiming to use animals from dairy herds. Forty-one kids were used, from three breed groups: Alpine, ½ Boer ½ Alpine (½ BA) and ¾ Boer ¼ Alpine (¾ BA), which were slaughtered at 60, 90 or 120 days of slaughter age. The animals were raised in a feedlot system. The following carcass […]

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the carcass characteristics of intact or castrated feedlot-finished males slaughtered at 16 (young steers) or 26 months of age (steers). The diet, with 50% roughage and 50% concentrate, contained 11.8% of crude protein and 2.83 Mcal of digestible energy/kg of dry matter. Intact males from both categories showed heavier carcasses. The weight difference between intact and castrated males was more evident for 26-month-old steers (33%) than for 16-month-old (14%) animals. Carcass subcutaneous […]

Thirty-two non castrated Mediterranean male buffaloes were used, being divided into five groups (categories). One group was randomly assigned to immediate slaughter, four groups were fully fed with ration containing 70% of concentrate, dry matter basis until reaching the slaughter weights of 450, 480, 510 and 540 kg. Regression equations of log content of carcass and their tissues (muscle, adipose tissue and bone) were adopted as a function of log empty-body-weight. Carcass presented positive allometry value close to 1, reflecting […]