Performance and Carcass Quality of Nelore Cattle Evaluated during Termination Phase in Integrated Agricultural Production Systems

Integrated agricultural production systems have been gaining prominence in recent years, especially those who advocate the use of trees, which, in addition to being an alternative income per unit area, protect animals against extreme weather conditions that can influence animal performance and, consequently, on carcass characteristics. Thus, the present study was developed with the aim of evaluate the animal performance and carcass characteristics of Nelore cattle, evaluated during the termination phase in integrated agricultural production systems without shade availability (ICL) and with two densities of trees (ICLF-1L e ICLF-3L). Experimental design was performed in non-randomized complete blocks, with three treatments: ICL: Integrated crop-livestock; ICLF-1L: Integrated crop-livestock-forest, with eucalyptus trees planted in simple lines (196 trees/ha); ICLF-3L: Integrated crop-livestock-forest, with eucalyptus trees planted in triple lines (448 trees/ha) and four replicates per treatment, totaling 12 experimental plots. A total of 60 castrated Nelore cattle were used, weighing 382.51 ± 27.17 kg, with an age of 28.0 ± 2.81 months, 453.68 ± 29.69 kg of live weight and 34.0 ± 2.81 months of age at the start and end of the termination phase, respectively. The variables evaluated were average daily gain, final live weight, warm carcass weight, carcass yield, weight and yield of the forequarter, special hindquarter and flank, ribeye area, backfat thickness and marbling. All data was initially tested for normality with the Shapiro-Wilk Test from the UNIVARIATE procedure. Also, it was distributed normally (W≥0.90). The analysis was developed by using the Student’ t Test, at the significance level of 5%, as well as the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS. According to the data, no difference was observed between treatments for the average daily gain (P > 0.05). However, higher final live weight was observed in the ICL system compared to ICLF-1L and ICLF-3L (P = 0.009). Consequently, the same behavior was verified in the forequarter weight (P = 0.043) and the weight and yield of the flank (0.001 and 0.041, respectively). On the other hand, no differences were observed between treatments for carcass yield, forequarter yield, special hindquarter’ weight and yield, which is an indicative of noble meat’ quantity, backfat thickness and marbling (P > 0.05). Thus, the study concludes that, although the animals kept in wooded pastures presented lower final live weight, the trees planted in the pasture do not compromise their performance, as well as the carcass yield and characteristics of higher amount of noble meat.