Five beef cattle management regimens
were evaluated for their effect on meat quality, fatty
acid composition, and overall palatability of the longissimus
dorsi (LD) muscle in Angus cross steers. A 98-d
growing phase was conducted using grass silage with
or without supplementation of growth promotants (Revalor
G and Rumensin) or soybean meal. Dietary treatments
in the finishing phase were developed with or
without supplementation of growth promotants based
on exclusive feeding of forages with no grain supplementation,
or the feeding of grain:forage (70:30) diets.
Growth promotants increased (P < 0.01) shear force and
tended (P = 0.06) to increase toughness of theLDmuscle
due to limited postmortem proteolytic activity (lower
myofibrillar fragmentation index value; P = 0.02).