Effects of supplemental Chinese traditional herbal medicine complex on the growth performance, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of male Holstein calves

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Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary addition of traditional Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) complex on the growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality of male Holstein calves. This study was conducted with 36 male Holstein calves (initial weight about 173 ± 3 kg) which were randomly divided into control and CHM supplementation (20 g/d) groups with three replicates. The study lasted for 98 days. The carcass fat percentage of the meat was increased, while the meat shear force and cooking losses were decreased in the CHM group in comparison to the control group (P P P = 0.07) scavenging a,a-diphenyl-β-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical ability than the control group. For that reason, the panel test result showed that the CHM group meat had better tenderness, flavor, juiciness, and total acceptance than the control group (P <0.05). In conclusion, this study's results indicated that the dietary supplementation of CHM had beneficial effects including increased carcass fat percentage, decreased cooking losses, and shear force and increased meat antioxidant activities and panel evaluation values.

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