INVESTIGATIONS ON THE INFLUENCE OF HIGH FATTY ACIDS DIETS ON FATTENING STEERS MEAT PRODUCTION AND MEAT QUALITY

The effects of using high fatty acids forages on Maramures Brown fattening steer performance were studied on 30 finishing steers assigned uniformly to 3 groups: control group (no fatty acids-rich feed), E1 (24% full fat soybean in the compound feed) and E2 (32% rapeseeds in the compound feed). The diets consisted of Sudan grass as bulk forage (free access) and of limited amounts of compound feeds. The use of fatty acids-rich forages did not influence the ingesta of compound feeds and of the complete diet. Weight gain in the experimental groups were higher than in the control group (1393 and 1113 g/steer/day in groups E1 and E2, respectively, compared to 1053 g/steer/day in group C) a significant difference being noticed between groups C and E1 (P ≤ 0.05). The meat of steers from the experimental groups had a higher level of crude fat (18 and 24 g in groups E1 and E2, respectively, versus 13 g in group C), while meat protein was lower in group E1 (211 g), intermediary in group C (226 g) and higher in group E2 (240 g). Crude fat linoleic acid (C18:2) level increased from 8.33% (group C) to 9.46% (group E1), which is beneficial to human health. A higher level of saturated fatty acids was noticed in the meat of animals from group E2, a higher level of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids was noticed in the meat of animals from group E1, as well as a higher level of medium-chain fatty acids to the detriment of long-chain fatty acids.