Energy levels in the diet for growing buffaloes under feedlot. 2. Carcass characteristics

Fifteen growing buffaloes of the Mediterranean breed were fed in feedlot for aproximately 140 days with the objective to evaluate three different levels of energy ingested on carcass characteristics. The animals were slaughtered when they reached body weight above 450kg. The average body weight was 465 kg +/- 16.29 kg. The average metabolizable energy intake estimated for the three treatments were: 18.23, 19.54 and 21.74 Mcal/animal/day. There were no significant differences among treatments in the hot and cold dressing carcass (averages 51.27 and 50.30%, respectively) and carcass primary and secondary cut percentages, except for whole round that presented lower percentage in the intermediary level of energy ingested. It was concluded that there were no evidences of-differences in the dressing carcass and of its primary and secondary cuts among buffaloes with three different levels of energy intake and that buffalo showed potential of carcass production with commercial cuts when fed in feedlot.