Effects of pregnancy and feeding level on carcass and meat quality traits of Nellore cows.
Carcass and meat quality traits of 16 pregnant and 5 non-pregnant cows fed at 1.2 times maintenance and 16 pregnant and 6 non-pregnant fed ad libitum were evaluated. Pregnancy did not affect final body weight (FBW P0.0923), cold carcass yield (CCY P0.0513), longissimus muscle area (LMA P0.8260), rib fat thickness (RFT P0.1873) and shear force (WBSF P0.9707). A lower FBW (P0.0028), LMA (P0.0048) and RFT (P0.0001) were observed in feed restricted cows. However, no differences were found for CCY (P0.7243) and WBSF (P0.0759) among feeding level groups. These data suggests that carcass and meat quality traits are not affected by pregnancy status in Nellore cows. Moreover, although cows experiencing feed restriction did have reduced deposition of subcutaneous fat and lean tissue, there were no major impacts on meat quality traits.