Características de carcaça e parâmetros de qualidade de carne de bovinos jovens alimentados com grãos úmidos de milho ou sorgo

Thirty-six Angus ´ Nelore crossbred young bulls averaging 8 month of age and 240 kg BW and fed diets with high moisture corn or sorghum during 172 days were allotted to two experimental treatments (where the main energy source of total diet was composed by high moisture corn - HMC or sorghum - HMS) to evaluate the differences on carcass and meat quality of young cattle. The experiment was analyzed as a completely randomized design. There were similarity for average daily gain, total weight gain and slaughter final weight. No difference was observed for carcass dressing, as for forequarter, hindquarter, and spare ribs. The HMC and HMS did not affected the color scores, conformation and fat distribution over the carcass. Marbling, ribeye area, subcutaneous fat thickness and pelvic fat, as for the chemical evaluations of the meat (crude protein and total lipids) also did not differ between treatments. No treatment effect on meat tenderness and physical losses in the cooking process (dripping, evaporation) was detected. In conclusion, the totally replacement of high moisture corn by high moisture sorghum did not affect carcass and quality meat traits of feedlot young cattle.