Metabolites (Sep 2023)

Changes in the Lipid Metabolism of the <i>Longissimus thoracis</i> Muscle in Bulls When Using Different Feeding Strategies during the Growing and Finishing Phases

  • Juliana Akamine Torrecilhas,
  • Guilherme Luis Pereira,
  • Elias San Vito,
  • Giovani Fiorentini,
  • Germán Darío Ramirez-Zamudio,
  • Larissa Simielli Fonseca,
  • Rodrigo de Nazaré Santos Torres,
  • Tiago Adriano Simioni,
  • Juliana Messana Duarte,
  • Otavio Rodrigues Machado Neto,
  • Rogério Abdallah Curi,
  • Luis Artur Loyola Chardulo,
  • Welder Angelo Baldassini,
  • Telma Teresinha Berchielli

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo13101042
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 10
p. 1042

Abstract

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The objective was to evaluate the supplementation strategy’s effect on beef cattle during the growing phase and two systems during the finishing phase. One hundred and twenty young bulls were randomly divided in a 2 × 2 factorial design to receive either mineral (ad libitum) or protein + energy (3 g/kg body weight (BW)/day) during the growing phase and pasture plus concentrate supplementation (20 g/kg BW/day) or feedlot (25:75% corn silage:concentrate) during the finishing phase. Feedlot-fed bulls had meat (Longissimus thoracis—LT) with a higher content of lipids and saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids and a greater upregulation of stearoyl-CoA desaturase and sterol regulatory element-binding protein-1c than animals that fed on pasture (p p p = 0.02). Mineral-fed and pasture-finished bulls showed down-regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (p carnitine palmitoyltransferase 2 expression (p ≤ 0.013). In conclusion, mineral or protein + energy supplementation in the growing does not affect the fatty acid composition of intramuscular fat of LT muscle. In the finishing phase, feeding bulls in the feedlot upregulates the lipogenic genes and consequently improves the intramuscular fat content in the meat.

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