Slaughter characteristics, carcass traits and cutability of Criollo Limonero steers fattened on pasture with supplementation regimes

The effects of two types of on-pasture supplementation on slaughter characteristics, carcass traits and cut yield of purebred steers of the native Criollo Limonero dairy breed were studied. Thirty-six months old animals were randomly alloted to the following treatments during a 158-d fattening trial: T1 = a non-suplemented control group grazing Echinochloa polystachia grass; T2 = grazing plus 1 Kg/d/head of a concentrate to 11% CP, and T3 = grazing plus 1h/d of pruning an arboreal legume (Leucaena leucocephala). Analysis of variance-covariance by the least squares method indicated that none of the supplementation treatments (T2, T3) affected (P > 0.05) dressing percentage, carcass traits and cut yield. The only significant effect observed was the lesser proportion of white viscera (rumen and annexes) yielded in animals supplemented with Leucaena as compared to the control (7.98% vs. 7.07%). Other management and/or feeding strategies with high-energy diets need to be assessed to improve the carcass quality and cut yield performance of this tropically-adapted Bos taurus breed.