Effects of dietary roughage level on growth and meat quality in the Tajima strain of Japanese black steers at middle- and late-fattening stages
2001
Oka, A. (Hyogo-ken. Agricultural Inst., Kasai (Japan)) | Iwaki, F. | Dogo, T.
The effects of roughage level on growth, beef quality during the middle- and late-fattening stages in the Tajima strain of Japanese Black steers were investigated. Twelve steers, which were 16 months old were divided into 3 groups: a high roughage group (H), a medium roughage group (M) and a low roughage group (L). The animal in H, M and L groups were fed a diet containing 20%, 15% and 10% roughage on a TDN basis, respectively, during the middle fattening stage (16 to 22 months of age). Then they were fed a diet containing 15%, 10% and 5% roughage, respectively, during the late fattening stage (23 to 30 months of age). (1) Average daily gain and heart girth tended to be lower in H than in M and L. (2) Carcass weights and longissimus muscle areas tended to be lower in H than in M and L. There were no significant differences in marbling, color, subcutaneous fat thickness nor intermuscular fat thickness among the groups. All the longissimus muscles in L changed shape. (3) The total unsaturated fatty acid content among the groups was not significantly different, however, the percentage of linolic acid in H was lower than that in L. (4) These results suggest that feeding 15% roughage on a TDN basis at the middle stage and 10% roughage at the late stage gives a preferable carcass for the meat industry.
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