CARACTERÍSTICA DE CARCAÇA E DA CARNE DE NOVILHAS TERMINADAS EM PASTAGEM OU CONFINAMENTO COM SUSBSTITUIÇÃO DE NÚCLEO PELETIZADO POR GRÃO DE SOJA

The objective of this study was to evaluate the carcass and meat characteristics of heifers finished in pasture or confinement with replacement of pelleted core by soybean grain. The experiment was developed at the School of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science of the Federal University of Tocantins, Araguaína -TO campus. Twenty-four Nellore females aged 16 to 18 months and mean initial live weight of 291 kg were used. The design was completely randomized in factorial boldness 2x2, two types of termination and two diets. It was used (six animals receiving pelleted nuclei with whole grain corn and six receiving soybean grain with whole grain corn) in both finishing systems. Carcass yield and carcass yield were evaluated using pH, shear force, subcutaneous fat thickness and cooking losses using Longissimus lumborum muscle samples. There was only effect of the finishing system for the heifers hot carcass weight, in which the heifers finished in the semi-confining presented HCW higher than the confined ones. Nellore heifers finished in semi-confined diets receiving high-grain diets have a higher hot carcass weight than those finished in confinement, however, they do not alter the qualitative characteristics of the meat.