Meat quality from four genetic groups of bulls slaughtered at 14 months old

carcass characteristics and chemical composition of longissimus muscle of 32 young bulls from four genetic groups slaughtered at 14 months old were evaluated. experimental design was completely randomized and distributed into four genetics groups: 1. caracu (car); 2. canchin (can); 3. charolais vs. caracu (chc) and 4. aberdeen angus vs. canchin (aac). carcass dressing and carcass conformation were lower for car than can, chc and aac genetic groups. no difference has been reported with regard to moisture, ash, crude protein, total lipids and total cholesterol among four genetics groups. the genetic groups influence fatty acid profile on longissimus muscle in bulls. cattle with zebu genes had the highest rates in unsaturated fatty acids, saturated fatty acids represented approximately 50% of total fatty acid composition on longissimus muscle. the genetic groups presented differences in pufa, sfa, n-6 and n-3 percentages and n-6 and n-3 ratios.