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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Anim. Sci.

Sec. Product Quality

Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fanim.2025.1547585

Grape pomace in diets for Podolian and crossbred young bulls: effects on growth performance, meat quality, and economic analysis of meat production

Provisionally accepted
Francesco Giannico Francesco Giannico 1Alessandro Petrontino Alessandro Petrontino 2Francesco Bozzo Francesco Bozzo 2Despoina Karatosidi Despoina Karatosidi 3Maria Selvaggi Maria Selvaggi 2Claudia Carbonara Claudia Carbonara 2Simona Tarricone Simona Tarricone 2*Marco Ragni Marco Ragni 2Maria Antonietta Colonna Maria Antonietta Colonna 2
  • 1 Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Valenzano, Italy
  • 2 Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, Univesity of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
  • 3 Research Institute of Animal Science, Hellenic Agricultural Organization, ELGO - DIMITRA, Giannitsa, Greece

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The use of local by-products in diets for beef cattle is a useful tool for circular economy; Apulia is the second Italian region for wine making that leads to the production of great amounts of grape pomace (GP), that has a high nutritional potential due to the presence of many bioactive compounds. Fortyeight male calves were used: 16 purebred Podolian, 16 Limousine × Podolian (L×P) and 16 Marchigiana × Podolian (M×P) crossbreeds. Within each genotype, two homogenous groups of eight animals were made and fed a control diet or a diet containing 20% Grape Pomace (GP). Animals were slaughtered at 600 kg. Podolian young bulls needed a longer period to reach the slaughtering weight, with significant differences as compared to the M×P (p < 0.05) and to the L×P (p < 0.01) bulls. L×P and P young bulls showed a greater GP feed consumption (p < 0.01). The carcasses from L×P young bulls were classified as U, while M×P and Podolian were scored as R. The Malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration of meat was lowered (p < 0.05) by the dietary inclusion of GP in all the genotypes. Ageing across 3, 9 and 14 days lowered the shear force in raw and cooked meat, that was greater (p < 0.05) in P bulls as compared to the other two crossbreeds; the MDA content of meat (p < 0.05) increased during storage, irrespective of the diet and genotype. The diet containing GP led to a lower (p < 0.05) concentration of palmitic acid, total Saturated Fatty Acids and total Mono Unsaturated Fatty Acids, while increasing (p < 0.01) the concentration of Linoleic acid, total Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids, total n-6 and total CLA (p < 0.05), in all the genotypes. For the M×P crossbred bulls, the GP variation rate was negative, while it was positive for the other two genotypes, showing a range of 0.46% in Podolian young bulls to 2.00% in L×P bulls. This preliminary study confirms the usefulness of dietary inclusion of grape pomace in young bulls' diet with benefits in terms of economic circularity, and meat production and quality.

    Keywords: Podolian, Marchigiana, Limousine, meat quality, grape pomace

    Received: 18 Dec 2024; Accepted: 01 Apr 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Giannico, Petrontino, Bozzo, Karatosidi, Selvaggi, Carbonara, Tarricone, Ragni and Colonna. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Simona Tarricone, Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, Univesity of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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