Improving beef sensory quality through breeding practices management

To identify the benefic effects of breeding practices, for the fattening period, on the Longissimus Thoracis sensory properties, a dataset obtained from 329 young bulls (2 breed types: beef and hardy) was analyzed. Animals were classified in 2 clusters: high and low sensory quality of beef meat. Different breeding practices combinations driven to high sensory quality were highlighted with decision trees, according to breed types. A higher beef quality is possible with a forage intake ≥ 1.95 kg DM/d in the fattening diet and a fattening period duration < 178 d for young beef breed bulls. The slaughter age of young bulls had a positive impact on beef quality of hardy breeds (≥ 17.2 mo) and beef breeds (between 15.4 and 16.8 mo) if it was combined with a longer fattening period duration and a higher average daily gain, for beef breeds and in addition with a heavier weight for hardy breeds