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Plant extracts and essential oils can be alternative products to antibiotics, because several plants produce secondary metabolites with antimicrobial properties. Additionally, they may act on the olfactory system, which sends signals to the central nervous system releasing endorphins that may affect the feeling of an animal's welfare while altering an animal's temperament. This study was conducted to evaluate the animal temperament of 40 young crossbred bulls (one-half Brown Swiss and one-half Nellore) 10 ± 2.2 mo old with an average BW of 219 ± 11.7 kg. Young bulls were randomly assigned to 1 of 5 diets: control, which had no clove or cinnamon; clove leaf included to supply 3,500 mg/animal per day; clove leaf included to supply 7,000 mg/animal per day; essential oil of leaf cinnamon to supply 3,500 mg/animal per day; or essential oil of leaf cinnamon to supply 7,000 mg/animal per day. The animal temperament was evaluated by calculating the chute score, exit score, and temperament score for periods (each 28 d during 6 periods) and among diets. The data were submitted to an ANOVA using GLM procedures with SAS version 9.0. The diet and period were considered fixed effects, whereas the animals were considered a random effect. Differences between means were evaluated using a Tukey test of 5% of significance. The addition of clove or cinnamon essential oils did not alter (P > 0.05) animal temperament. The analysis of temperament score (P = 0.55), chute score (P = 0.71), and exit score (P = 0.06) did not show significant differences among the diets. The exit score was similar among the 6 periods (1.57, 1.80, 2.98, 2.02, 2.73, and 2.66, respectively); however, chute score and temperament score were greater (P < 0.001) in the first period compared with other periods. The values for chute score were 1.85, 1.40, 1.35, 1.33, 1.20, 1.17, respectively, and the values for temperament score were 2.31, 1.81, 1.67, 1.69, 1.50, and 1.56, respectively, for periods 1 to 6. The results of this study suggest that clove and cinnamon essential oils can be added as an additive in high-grain finished diets without changing the animal temperament. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined color and lipid oxidation of meat, from young bulls finished in feedlot supplemented with clove (84.5% of eugenol) or cinnamon (78.8% of cinnamaldehyde) essential oils. Forty bulls (1/2 Brown Swiss - 1/2 Nellore) 10 ± 2.2 month-old and with initial average BW of 219.0 ± 11.7 kg were used in a complete randomized design, assigned to individual pens. The diet consisted of 90% concentrate and 10% of sugar cane pellets. The young bulls were randomly assigned to the groups: CON control, no clove or cinnamon oil, CLO35 inclusion of 3500 mg/animal/d of clove oil, CLO70 inclusion of 7000 mg/animal/d of clove oil, CIN35 inclusion of 3500 mg/animal/d of cinnamon oil, and CIN70 inclusion 7000 mg/animal/d of cinnamon oil. After 187 d the bulls reached an average of 443.5 ± 26.2 kg BW, and were transported to a slaughterhouse. The carcasses were stored in a chilling chamber at 4°C. After 24 h, Longissimus muscle samples were collected for analysis. Three steaks (two-half centimeters thick) were cut, packed in polystyrene trays over wrapped with a retractile film (oxygen permeable) and stored in expositor (4°C) during 1, 7, and 14 d. The color was evaluated using a Minolta colorimeter (CM 700). The lipid oxidation was evaluated by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances protocol, and the results were expressed in mg of malondialdehyde (MDA) per kg/meat. The data were assessed via analysis of variance using GLM procedures with SPSS v21.0 and the averages were compared at the 5% level of significance. The inclusion of oil in diets did not affect the color on 1, 7, and 14 d, the average values were 40.0, 40.27, and 32.05 for lightness (L*), 11.73, 16.08, and 7.6 for redness (a*), and 11.82, 14.91, and 7.98, for yellowness (b*). The concentration of MDA in meat on 1 and 14 d of storage was not influenced (P = 0.832 and P = 0.183, respectively) by the treatments. However, on the 7 d, the MDA concentration of meat were lower (P = 0.001) for animals from groups fed with diets supplemented with both oils, compared to animals from control group (0.681, 0.594, 0.540, 0.592, 0.573 mg/kg for CON, CLO35, CLO70, CIN35, CIN70, respectively). The essential oils added to the cattle diet did not alter the color parameters of meat and were efficient in the protection of the lipid oxidation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]