Replacement of soybean meal by sunflower cake in heifers finished on pasture: meat quality

Abstract

Twenty heifers aged 24 months from the Nellore breed were finished on pasture and supplemented during 120 days at 0.8% bodyweight with sunflower cake, which replaced bran soybeans, at proportions of 0%, 20%, 40% and 60%. Concentrated diets for supplementation were isoproteic (28% crude protein), with ether extract levels of 3.68%, 5.65%, 8.82% and 11.00%, respectively. Longissimus muscle, between the 12th and 13th rib, from the left half carcass were removed and used for the analysis of meat quality. The pH, water-holding capacity, cooking loss, shear force, meat colour, chemical composition, sensory characteristics and fatty acids profile were assessed. There were no significant differences in the studied attributes by the replacement of soybean meal by sunflower cake. Only the fatty acid profile presented slight differences between diets (P ≤ 0.05) containing C15:0, C20:0 and C20:3n-6 fatty acids. In conclusion, the replacement of soybean meal by sunflower cake does not alter the qualitative and sensory characteristics of meat from Nellore heifers finished on pasture.