Effect of supplementing with protected fat on meat production and quality of mexican dual purpose steers

Objective. To evaluate performance and meat quality response to protected fat (PF) addition to diets for dual purpose steers. Materials and methods. Forty five commercial crossed steers (B. taurus x B. indicus) were used. They were allocated into three blocks of 15 animals, according to live-weight into small, medium and large steers. Each block was divided into three groups of 5 animals, and then assigned at random to three treatments: 0, 1.5 and 3% of PF, within a completely randomized block design. Results. There were not differences (p>0.05) on animal performance. Backfat was greater (p<0.05) on animals fed at 0% PF compared to 3% of GP (9.6 vs 8.6 mm). There were not differences (p>0.05) on Longissimus muscle area (LMA) nor on pH. Meat crude protein increased (p<0.05) on animals fed at 3% of PF, but it decreased (p<0.05) with diets at 1.5 and 0% of PF (22.77 vs 21.57, 21.64, respectively). Fatty acid profile was not different (p>0.05) between treatments. Conclusions. Adding PF to diets for dual purpose feedlot steers does not modify animal performance, but it improves some carcass and meat characteristics. It is suggested to do more research, using the same kind of animals, but taking into consideration higher levels of PF to those used in this study, since the response could improve.