CARACTERÍSTICAS QUANTITATIVAS DE CARCAÇAS DE BOVINOS DE DIFERENTES CONSTITUIÇÕES GENÉTICAS BOS INDICUS TERMINADOS EM CONFINAMENTO COM DIETA ALTO GRÃO

Brazilian beef cattle farming still lacks technologies to increase production and improve efficiency. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quantitative characteristics of bovine carcasses from different Bos indicus genetic constitutions that were fed a high grain diet. Twenty-seven animals were used, with initial mean age of 18 months and initial mean live weight of 240 kg. The animals were slaughtered using a concussion technique and section of the jugular vein. The experimental design was completely randomized and submitted to the statistical program R 2.11.0, at the 5% level of significance, by the Scott Knott test. Carcasses of the animals 68.8 and 50.0% Bos indicus genetic constituents were larger (P <0.05) in relation the warm carcass weight (CW), loin eye area (LEA) and carcass length (CL), respectively, 192.60 and 197.50 kg vs 173.47 kg; 58.61 and 58.75 mm vs. 51.50 mm; 117.72 and 119.18 cm vs. 114.31 cm, respectively. The animals 50.0% Bos indicus receiving high grain diets stand out at 100% Zebu animals, with emphasis on warm carcass weight, loin eye area and carcass length.