Beef quality and expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism in Nellore bulls finished with diets containing snaplage

The objective of this study was to analyze beef quality through chemical composition, color, and shear force, as well as the expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism, in the muscle of Nellore bulls fed snaplage. Seventy-two Nellore bulls with an initial live weight of 400 ± 27.4 kg were used in a completely randomized design. Bulls were housed in 8 pens per treatment with three animals each, with pens considered the experimental units. The experimental diets were control, snaplage + ground corn (SNAP65, with 65% snaplage), and snaplage (SNAP85, with 85% snaplage). After an experimental period of 86 days, the animals were slaughtered by concussion stunning and severing of the jugular vein. After skinning, longissimus thoracis (LT) muscle samples were taken from the left half-carcass. Gene expressions were analyzed using the RT-qPCR technique. The chemical composition of the LT muscle was not influenced by the inclusion or absence of snaplage in the diet (P > 0.05). However, animals fed SNAP85 showed higher PPARG expression (P = 0.03). The muscle of young bulls fed SNAP65 and SNAP85 showed higher expression of the ACACA and SCD1 genes (P ≤ 0.03) than the control muscle. PC expression in the liver was higher for the control treatment than SNAP65 and SNAP85, while PEPCK2 had greater expression in animals fed control and SNAP85 treatments than in those fed SNAP65. We conclude that diets with snaplage can replace other types of diets and silages since they increase the expression of genes involved in lipogenesis and do not affect qualitative beef attributes.