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Forty young bulls were finished in feedlot with diets that contained different dosages of a combination of several natural additives (NA), i.e., clove essential oil, cashew and castor oil, and rumenprotected eugenol, vanillin, and thymol. The animals were randomized in five diets containing four different inclusion levels of NA and a control diet (n = 8 animals per treatment): basal diet without NA (CON); NA15 = 1500 mg/day; NA30 = 3000 mg/day; NA45 = 4500 mg/day, and NA60 = basal diet with 6000 mg/day of the natural additives blend. Colour, antioxidant activity (DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assays), lipid oxidation, and visual acceptability were evaluated through display (until 14 d in vacuum or film packages). Both factors (diet and display) affected all parameters evaluated. The highest dosage, NA60, was able to improve the antioxidant potential, decreasing beef oxidation to produce a higher visual acceptability. The results of this research provide evidence that NA included in the diet of beef cattle can improve overall meat quality and extend shelf-life, thus, providing higher visual acceptability through the colour perception of consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cottonseed hulls are co-product of agribusiness that can be used in beef cattle rations, decreasing the cost of feed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of different cottonseed hull levels, display and ageing times on visual and sensorial meat acceptability. Longissimus thoracis muscle from 30 crossbred young bulls finished on three high-grain diets (210, 270 or 330 g/kg of cottonseed hulls on dry matter, respectively) were visually evaluated during 10 days of display by 37 appraisers. Tenderness, flavour and overall acceptability from the three diets and three ageing times (1, 7 and 14 days) were evaluated by 120 consumers. On the visual study, time of display (P⩽0.001) was a more significant factor than diet. Cottonseed hull level had no effect on sensorial analyses, with tenderness acceptability improving with ageing time (P⩽0.001). Results indicate the possibility of using the three studied levels of cottonseed without damaging consumer meat acceptability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Both at the propositional and the predicate level, in tableau systems of intuitionistic logic as well as in the corresponding sequent and natural calculi, the problem arises of reducing as much as possible the duplication of formulas, i.e., the reuse of formulas already used in a proof, in order to single out efficient proof search techniques. This problem has been analyzed in a paper by Dyckhoff, where a nearly optimal solution is given for intuitionistic propositional sequent and natural calculi, and in previous papers by the authors, where an improvement is proposed of Fitting's tableau system for intuitionistic predicate logic. In the present paper we reanalyze the ideas of our previous works in the light of Dyckhoff's results. This gives rise to a tableau system for intuitionistic predicate logic which provides a good improvement of the previous tableau systems with respect to the problem of duplication. The formal setting of the paper seems to be promising to treat further intermediate logics. In this line, we analyze Kuroda logic and provide for it a tableau system involving a smaller amount of duplication than the one involved in the intuitionistic tableau system presented in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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 evaluated the meat quality of 3 cattle breeds finished in 2 feeding systems. Bulls of 3 genetic groups (n = 113)--Nellore (NL), one-half Angus × one-half Nellore (AN), and one-half Senepol × one-half Nellore (SN)--were randomly assigned to 2 feeding systems groups: pasture (PA; n = 57) and feedlot (FE; n = 56). Bulls from both systems were supplemented (2% BW) daily with a high-concentrate diet (16% CP and 78% TDN). After 110 d, the bulls were slaughtered at a commercial beef plant. The carcasses were stored in a chilling chamber at 4°C. Three steaks from LM (2.5-cm thick) were cut between the 11th to 13th ribs, individually vacuum-packaged, and assigned to 1-, 7-, and 14-d ageing periods. Muscle pH, thawing loss (TL), cooking loss (CL), water holding capacity (WHC), color, and Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) were analyzed. The results were analyzed by ANOVA using GLM procedures in SAS 9.0, with a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, and the averages were compared at 5% level of significance. The muscle pH (1-, 7-, and 14-d ageing time) was not influenced by feeding system or breed. The feeding system affected some quality parameters: TL was lower for the PA group compared with the FE group at 1 d ageing time (7.86 and 10.18%, respectively; P = 0.006), CL was greater on d 7 for the FE group (26.16 and 24.31%; P = 0.047), and WHC was greater on d 1 for the PA group (68.13 and 64.34%; P < 0.001) and on d 14 as well (69.37 and 67.75%; P = 0.004). The meat color of the FE group was greater compared with the PA group, lightness (L*) was greater on all days examined (d 1, 7, and 14; P < 0.001), redness (a*) was greater on d 1 (P = 0.020) in the FE group but was lower on d 7 and 14 (P = 0.026 and P = 0.002, respectively) compared with the PA group, and yellowness (b*) was greater on d 1 and 14 in the FE group (P < 0.001 and P = 0.047). The WBSF was better in the FE group during all ageing times. The breed influenced L*: on 7 d ageing time, the SN group was greater compared with NE group; however, the SN and AN groups did not differ from each other. On 14 d ageing time, the AN and SN groups were similar, but both were greater than the NL group. In this study, the meat quality parameters were more affected by feeding systems than by breed. [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]