CARACTERÍSTICAS DA CARCAÇA DE NOVILHOS TERMINADOS EM CONFINAMENTO SUBMETIDOS A DIFERENTES TAXAS DE GANHO DE PESO NA RECRIA

The objective of this work was to evaluate the carcass characteristics of beef cattle reared under different weight gains. The experimental design was completely randomized, with three treatments applied in the rearing phase, these being in function of the expected average daily weight gain. The animals were distributed in the treatments: Low (0>x<0.2 kg) = animals kept on pasture 13 cm high; Intermediate (0.4>x<0.6 kg) = pasture 23 cm high and high (≥0.8 kg) = pasture 33 cm high plus energy supplementation at the level of 0.7% of live weight with 10 and 8 replicates in the rearing and termination respectively for each treatment. The low treatment animals presented higher (P<0.05) warm carcass weight , cold carcass weight, warm carcass yield, cold carcass yield and meat marbling. It was concluded that the feed restriction in the rearing phase provided higher carcass yield, carcass weight and beef marmoralization in the finishing phase, but they remained longer in the feedlot.