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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1416365
This article is part of the Research Topic Animal Health and Production: Identifying Challenges and Finding a Way Forward View all 37 articles

Statistical Approaches for Assessing Meat Quality and Heifer Rumen Histology Based on Dietary Forage

Provisionally accepted
Alberto Benito-Diaz Alberto Benito-Diaz 1Ainhoa Sarmiento-García Ainhoa Sarmiento-García 2*Juan J. García-García Juan J. García-García 1Ceferina Vieira-Aller Ceferina Vieira-Aller 1Esperanza Dominguez Iralde Esperanza Dominguez Iralde 1Raul Bodas Rodriguez Raul Bodas Rodriguez 1Luis Gómez Gordo Luis Gómez Gordo 3Purificación Vicente-Galindo Purificación Vicente-Galindo 4
  • 1 Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León, Valladolid, Spain
  • 2 University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain
  • 3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain
  • 4 Faculty of Medicine, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

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

    Feeding local forages to ruminants is a promising strategy for enhancing metabolic processes, promoting sustainable farming, and improving product quality. However, studies comparing the effects of different forages on rumen histology and meat attributes of heifers are limited and variable. This study evaluated the benefits of incorporating local forages into heifer diets by comparing barley straw (BS) and oat hay (OH) on heifer attributes focusing on meat quality (MQ) and rumen status (RS). Sixteen crossbred (Charolais x Limousin) female heifers (7 months of age, 263 ± 10.50 kg) were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments (BS or OH) over 120 days. Heifers fed OH showed enhanced RS (P<0.05), characterized by improved intestinal epithelial integrity and a lower percentage of hyperpigmented cells, suggesting a potential reduction in inflammatory processes compared to BS, which may indicate a lower risk of metabolic diseases. Despite this, no significant differences (P>0.05) were found in animal performance, chemical composition, and technological properties of the meat between the dietary groups, while lower levels (P<0.05) of certain saturated fatty acids (C12:0, C15:0, and C22:0) were found in the meat from heifers fed OH. Principal component analysis (PCA) reduced the variables and demonstrated that all variables assessed can be condensed into four new variables explaining 75.06% of the variability. Moreover, biplot analysis reveals that the OH diet could be discriminated from BS. Our findings suggest that OH is a valuable fibre source, positively influencing certain heifer attributes, and supporting sustainable animal agriculture practices.

    Keywords: Biplot, forage diet, Heifer, meat quality, Principal Component Analysis, Ruminal histology

    Received: 12 Apr 2024; Accepted: 28 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Benito-Diaz, Sarmiento-García, García-García, Vieira-Aller, Dominguez Iralde, Bodas Rodriguez, Gómez Gordo and Vicente-Galindo. 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: Ainhoa Sarmiento-García, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, 37008, Spain

    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.