Características Organolépticas e Sensoriais da Carne de Novilhos Jersey com Diferentes Pesos de Abate Criados em Confinamento

The experiment was carried out from May 2017 to September 2018 at IAPAR in the city of Pato Branco. We used 18 Jersey animals born and coming from regional producers, kept in feedlot throughout the experimental period, being slaughtered with different weights: 360, 390 and 420 kg of live weight (actual weight 368, 392 and 422 kg). The objective was to evaluate the organoleptic and sensorial characteristics of the meat of Jersey steers with different slaughter weights. Available in meat color, texture degree, marbling levels, a softness, palatability, juiciness, a shear force, a loss of cooking and a melting break. According to the results obtained it was possible to observe significant differences in relation to softness and palatability, where animals with higher weight (422 kg) presented better results when evaluated by sensorial. Regarding the loss by cooking, the animals with higher weight presented lower values than those of the other groups, being related with the precocity.