Effects of A Concentrate Rich in Agro-Industrial By-Products on Productivity Results, Carcass Characteristics and Meat Quality Traits of Finishing Heifers

Abstract

Finishing diets in intensive beef production systems are mainly based on cereals, which does not take advantage of the capacity of the ruminant digestive system to digest fibrous feeds, cannot be considered sustainable and does not contribute to the circular bioeconomy. Our aim was to investigate the effects of an alternative concentrate rich in agro-industrial by-products for finishing crossbred Limousine heifers. Four pens with 12 heifers and four pens with 13 heifers were randomly allocated to one of two treatments: control (CON), a commercial concentrate with a 43.3% cereal composition, and alternative (ALT), a concentrate with a composition of 26% cereals and up to 73.5% agro-industrial by-products. Growth performance data were collected along the 91 days of the experimental period. Carcass characteristics were collected after slaughter and 24 h later. Vacuum-packaged samples from longissimus muscle were aged for 7, 21 or 28 days to study meat quality traits. Feed intake was higher and feed conversion rate was lower in the ALT treatment, but no differences were found in average daily gain and feeding costs. Treatment had no effects on any of the measured carcass traits (grading, hot and cold carcass weight, dressing out, chilling losses, subcutaneous fat depth, pH, temperature and lean and fat colour) nor on the meat quality traits (drip loss, cooking loss, shear force, oxidative stability, chromatic indices and pigment contents). Ageing time decreased drip loss and shear force, increased lightness and did not affect redness or surface colour stability. In conclusion, feeding crossbred Limousine heifers a finishing diet rich in agro-industrial by-products did not have any negative effects on performance, carcass and meat quality traits, which might be considered positive from the point of view of sustainability of beef production. Under the conditions assayed, ageing for 21 and 28 days improved tenderness of meat, without detrimental effects on oxidative stability or traits related to visual acceptability.

Beef from Calves Finished with a Diet Based on Concentrate Rich in Agro-Industrial By-Products: Acceptability and Quality Label Preferences in Spanish Meat Consumers

“…The juiciness scores were similar between diets, which agrees with the results obtained by Moreno-Diaz et al [17] when analyzing the water-holding capacity (drip and cooking losses) in the same animals of the current study, although the connection between cooking loss and juiciness is not simple.…”

“…These results complement those obtained by Moreno-Diaz et al [17], who reported that the alternative diet did not present negative effects on growth performance or carcass and meat traits. However, it is possible that the alternative diet might have induced small variations in meat traits that affected sensory characteristics (such as color or flavor) and were not detected by Moreno-Díaz et al [17] (i.e., due to sensitivity of the instrumental techniques, variability between experimental units, etc.) but did not pass unnoticed by regular users who have enough experience to detect small variations in sensory characteristics.…”

“…The experiment was conducted using the longissimus lumborum muscle from 24 crossbred Limousine × Retinta heifers, selected from a batch of 100 cattle according to their diets, and raised and fed as reported by Moreno-Diaz et al [ 17 ]. Briefly, cattle over three months old were randomly assigned to one of two finishing diets: control (CO; cereal-based concentrate plus cereal straw) or alternative (CA; 26% cereals and up to 73.5% agro-industrial by-products, e.g., soybean hulls, hominy feed, corn dried distiller grains, wheat bran, corn gluten feed dehydrated barley sprouts, NaOH-treated wheat straw, camelina meal and camelina husks, plus cereal straw.…”

“…Some authors have described the effects of these diets on these characteristics [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], but very few studies have investigated changes in sensory characteristics, such as color or tenderness, which are deemed important to consumers. In this regard, Moreno-Diaz et al [ 17 ] did not observe any negative effects on the productivity or technological features of meat when using a diet with 73.5% agro-industrial by-products from southern Spain when compared to a conventional diet. However, the way that this alternative diet affects sensory acceptance by consumers needs to be studied in depth.…”

Circular Bio-economy—Paradigm for the Future: Systematic Review of Scientific Journal Publications from 2015 to 2021

“…Further support for use as animal feed comes from [137], in which E-LCA and life-cycle costing applied to different valorisation alternatives for food waste showed that use as animal feed is environmentally and economically more attractive than the conversion to organic acids. Using agro-industrial by-products as animal feed, to replace a part of the cereals fed to beef cattle, did not affect the quality of the meat in any way, as shown by Diaz et al (2020) [72]. Part of the animal feed manifests as manure which again is a biorefinery input.…”