Efecto de la Sobrealimentación sobre las Características de la Canal y la Degradación Postmortem de la Vinculina y Troponina-T en Carne de Novillos Doble Propósito

the effect of overfeeding on carcass characteristics and on degradation of vinculin and troponin-t at three different postmortem times (0, 24, and 48 h) were evaluated in dual purpose steers. a total of 10 steers, 21 months of age was used. the animals were randomly selected and allocated to two different treatment protocols for 12 months, as follows: treatment 1 (t1): five steers (control group) fed with a diet consistent of hay (cynodon nlemfuensis) plus concentrate, with a hay/concentrate ratio of 80:20, to reach a daily weight gain (dwg) of 100 g/d; treatment 2 (t2); five steers fed with hay (cynodon nlemfuensis) plus concentrate with a hay/concentrate ratio of 60:40, to obtain a dwg of 500 g/d. carcasses were assessed for both qualitative and quantitative characteristics at 24 h postmortem. to evaluate the degradation of vinculin and troponin-t at three different times (0, 24, and 48 h postmortem), 0.5 g of the longissimus dorsi muscle was collected from each half carcass and subjected to a western blot analysis. samples were analyzed by anova. the analysis included the weight of the animals as a covariance. the results of the present investigation indicate that the carcasses of overfed steers exhibited better carcass traits, showing larger loin eye areas, back fat thickness, and a skeletal maturity (p≤0.05), without reaching adequate levels of fat finish. it was also observed that overfeeding did not change the pattern of degradation of vinculin and troponin-t at any postmortem time. vinculin showed degradation at 24 h postmortem while troponin-t was not degraded. these results must be confirmed using a greater number of animals and a quantitative evaluation of protein expression.