Objective: An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of increasing levels of spineless cactus (0%, 33%, 66% and 100%) used as a substitute for wheat bran energy concentrate in buffalo diets on quantitative and qualitative traits of the meat and carcass.Methods: Twenty Murrah buffaloes at 18 months of age, with a mean initial weight of 292.9±57.3 kg, were randomly allocated to four treatments with five replicates. The animals were slaughtered after 90 days in the feedlot. The effects of spineless cactus as a replacement for wheat bran energy concentrate in the diet of the buffaloes on the carcass and meat traits, slaughter weight, carcass yield and carcass measurements were studied.Results: Dry matter intake (DMI), feed conversion (FC), average daily gain (ADG), hot carcass weight and carcass compactness were negatively affected (P<0.05) by the increasing replacement levels Increase spineless cactus levels led to linear reduction in average daily gain, slaughter weight, hot and cold carcass weight, compactness index and in the amount of muscle in the carcass, and there is isno difference between the control treatment and the 33% replacing level for these parameters. The quality of the meat was not influenced by the treatments.; however, replacement levels of up to 33% resulted in a larger edible portion of the carcass. Considering the evaluated qualitative parameters, all treatments provided meat of excellent quality, with no effect (P>0.05) of the replacement levels on the evaluated traits.
Conclusion:Spineless cactus can replace wheat bran by up to 33% in sugarcane-based diets for buffaloes, without influencing quantitative and qualitative traits of the meat and carcass. spineless cactus associated with urea can replace up to 33% of the energy concentrate in sugarcane-based diets used in the finishing of feedlot buffaloes.