ABSTRACT: The use of new feed resources, particularly local agroindustrial byproducts, such as banana, may be an option for replacing those traditionally used for sheep feed to reduce production costs. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the dietary effects of replacing corn bran with banana leftovers on performance, carcass, non-carcass components, meat traits, and fatty acid profile of Santa Inês lambs. Twenty-four Santa Inês female lambs with an average weight of 23.73 kg were fed diets containing 60 % coast cross hay and 40 % concentrate (30 % corn bran and 10 % soybean meal). Treatments consisted of corn bran replaced by banana leftovers at rates of 0, 25, 50, and 75 % on a dry matter basis. The experiment lasted 120 days. Animals were slaughtered and carcasses and non-carcass components were evaluated. The half-carcasses were weighed and sectioned into commercial cuts. The 12th and 13th ribs were dissected to collect bones, muscle and fat proportions. Cooking loss, color, shear force and sarcomere length were measured. Fatty acid profiles were obtained by gas chromatography. Hot and cold carcass weight, leg, neck, lung, loin eye area, fat thickness, initial sample weight of the 12th and 13th ribs, fat and bone, presented a negative linear effect of banana leftovers replacing corn in the diet. Loin, fat thickness, cooking loss and carcass redness showed a negative quadratic effect, while full and empty abomasum, full omasum, sarcomere length and yellowness presented a positive quadratic effect. Replacement of up to 75 % of corn bran by banana leftovers did not interfere in the intake, performance, meat traits and the fatty acid profile of lambs. The use of banana leftovers may be an alternative for reducing animal production costs.

Resumo O crescimento alométrico de raças de suínos naturalizados (Nilo, Piau, Moura e Monteiro), machos e fêmeas, foi avaliado em relação à altura do quadril, comprimento do focinho e comprimento da cabeça, usando-se a equação alométrica. As medidas do corpo geralmente apresentam um crescimento mais tardio em relação ao comprimento do focinho e precocemente em relação ao comprimento da cabeça e altura do quadril. Ao comparar as raças de suínos, as fêmeas da raça Moura apresentaram características relacionadas com o crescimento muscular (circunferência torácica, comprimento do corpo e diâmetro longitudinal) mais tardiamente ao comprimento da cabeça. Fêmeas Nilo apresentaram características do comprimento do ombro, comprimento da garupa e a distância interesquiática mais precoce em relação ao comprimento do focinho. Foram encontradas diferenças entre a raça e o sexo no tempo de desenvolvimento para as diferentes partes do corpo, mostrando que os sistemas de criação e utilização desses animais devem ser específicos para cada raça.

Abstract The allometric growth of male and female naturalized pig breeds (Nilo, Piau, Moura, and Monteiro) was evaluated regarding hip height, snout length, and head length using the allometric equation. Body measurements generally show later growth in relation to the snout length and earlier growth in relation to the head length and hip height. When comparing breeds of pigs, female Moura animals showed later growth of the characteristics linked to muscle (thoracic circumference, body length, and longitudinal diameter) than of head length. Nilo females showed characteristics such as shoulder length, rump length and interschiadic distance earlier than snout length. There were differences between the breed and gender in terms of development times for the different parts of the body, showing that breeding systems and use of these animals have to be specific for each breed.

RESUMO. Foram realizados dois experimentos para se avaliar a influência do grupo genético, da prenhez e da idade do animal sobre as características da carcaça e dos cortes comerciais de ovelhas. No primeiro experimento foi avaliado o efeito da prenhez e do grupo genético em 61 ovelhas Santa Inês e seus cruzamentos com Texel, Dorper e Ilê de France. O experimento 2 foi conduzido com 132 ovelhas Santa Inês prenhes e não prenhes abatidas com idades entre 6 a 48 meses para avaliar a influência da idade sobre as características da carcaça. Em ambos os experimentos foram realizadas medidas de peso de carcaça quente, peso de carcaça fria, rendimento de carcaça quente, rendimento de carcaça fria e comprimento da carcaça, assim como o rendimento e a percentagem da paleta, pescoço, lombo, fralda, costela e pernil, além do comprimento e perímetro do pernil. No experimento 1, a raça Santa Inês apresentou similaridade para as características da carcaça e dos cortes com os outros grupos genéticos avaliados, exceto para o peso de corpo vazio. As fêmeas que pariram apresentaram menor escore de condição corporal que as fêmeas nulíparas. No experimento 2, o peso vivo em jejum, os pesos do lombo, costela e pernil, bem como a circunferência do pernil apresentaram efeito quadrático com o aumento da idade. A idade de abate ideal situa-se antes dos 16 meses de idade para a obtenção de cortes mais caros.

ABSTRACT. Two experiments were carried out to evaluate the influence of genetic group, pregnancy and animal age on the carcass traits and commercial cut patterns of sheep carcasses. In the first experiment, the effect of pregnancy and genetic group were evaluated on 61 eleven month old Santa Inês ewes and their crosses with Texel, Dorper and Ile de France. Experiment 2 was carried out with 132 Santa Inês nulliparous or lambed ewes slaughtered with ages ranging from 6 to 48 months to evaluate the influence of age on carcass traits. For both experiments, hot carcass weight, cold carcass weight, carcass yield, cold carcass yield and carcass length were measured, as well as the yields and percentages of shoulder, neck, loin, belly, ribs, leg and leg length and perimeter. In experiment 1, the Santa Inês breed presented similar carcass and cut traits compared to the others genetic groups evaluated, except for fasting body weight. Lambed animals had lower body condition score than nulliparous females. In experiment 2, fasting body weight, loin, rib and leg weights, as well as the leg perimeter, presented a quadratic effect with increasing age. Ideal slaughter age is before 16 months to obtain more expensive cuts.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to develop an equation to determine the apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and metabolizable energy corrected for nitrogen balance (AMEn) using a physical-based classification of corn. A total of 5,055 samples were taken from bulk cargo trucks, over a five-year period. The parameters studied were the variables related to the physical characteristics of grains. The density of maize was evaluated, and AME and AMEn were calculated. The average value for AME was 3,375 kcal/kg, and two groups were formed of high quality and low quality for all samples. Stepwise regression analysis was then carried out using grain quality to estimate AME and AMEn, and the validation of the equations was carried out with 6,490 independent samples. The average value for density was 767.7 kg/m3. The multiple regressions used to estimate AME and AMEn as a function of humidity, density, and physical composition of corn kernels showed that moisture was included for AME, but not for AMEn. The equations presented high coefficients of determination (R2) for AME (0.994) and AMEn (0.987). The discriminant analyses correctly classified 98% of the high-quality samples and 96.69% of low-quality samples, so the error was smaller than the expected. The calculated equations were shown to be good at discriminating between samples of high and low quality of corn according to its physical composition, and the most important variables for separation between groups were damaged grain fraction, impurities, burnt, and soft. The correlation between calculated (independent samples) and estimated metabolizable energy and AMEn were, respectively, 0.9942 and 0.9859. The corn energy values can be estimated based on physical evaluation of the grain.

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of three different grazing systems: isolated, alternate and simultaneous, on feed intake, performance and carcass characteristics of sheep. About 5.2 ha area of Tanzania grass (Panicum maximun Jacq cultivate Tanzania) was divided into 13 paddocks. This area was used as a stocking rate of two animal units (AU) per ha for 7 days’ occupation and 21 days rest. A total number of 58 animals were used consisting of 12 heifers and 30 Santa Ines lambs with the addition of 16 adult ewes that were used to stabilize grazing pressure in the isolated system. The sheep were fed on 200 g per head per day of concentrate and cattle 2 kg per head per day. The parameters determined were the following: weekly weight (WW), total live weight gain (LWG) and mean daily weight gain (MDW). Also dry matter intake was estimated 84 days after the start of the experiment using external indicators (Purified and Enriched Lignin) in addition to carcass traits and composition which were also estimated. The result obtained for carcass composition revealed that the muscle:bone ratio and bone percentage were better in the alternate system. Moreover, the simultaneous and isolated systems showed higher lamb performance than the alternate system, while there was no effect on dry matter intake. Furthermore, there was no difference of the different systems on carcass traits and feed intake of sheep. Nevertheless, the simultaneous grazing system showed better sheep performance than the alternate grazing system.

ABSTRACT Forty Nelore cattle were used to evaluate the effects of supplementation with different antioxidants on carcass characteristics and meat quality of feedlot cattle. Animals were fed Brachiaria brizantha hay and subjected to five treatments (control and four antioxidants: zinc, selenium, vitamin E, and selenium + vitamin E). After a 105-day feeding period, cattle were slaughtered. Tissue composition, as well as carcass proximate composition, color, tenderness, pH, and fatty acid profile were evaluated. Analysis of variance was carried out and means compared by Tukey test at 0.05 probability. The group fed selenium showed the lowest muscle amount (66.61 g/100 g) compared with the other antioxidants evaluated. There was no difference among treatments for bone, fat, and comestible portion percentages as well as muscle:bone, muscle:fat, and comestible portion:bone ratios, with mean values of 16.85 g/100 g, 14.70 g/100 g, 82.99 g/100 g, 4.06, 4.85, and 4.95, respectively. Neither brightness, red, or yellow contents of the meat nor carcass pH were affected by treatments. For tenderness and losses during thawing and cooking, there were no differences among treatments, with averages of 6.43 kgf cm2, 3.22 g/100 g, and 21.15 g/100 g, respectively. Supplementation of Nelore cattle fed Brachiaria brizantha hay with antioxidants do not influence carcass characteristics or meat quality. However, vitamin E supplementation reduces the levels of omega 3 fatty acid, whereas supplementation with selenium + vitamin E promotes an increase in linoleic and palmitoleic acids and a decrease in myristoleic acid, making the supplementation feasible due to the beneficial effects provided by these acids.