Effect of vitamin A injection at birth on intramuscular fat development and meat quality in beef cattle

• Autor(a) principal: Maciel, Felipe C.
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Machado Neto, Otávio R. [UNESP], Duarte, Marcio S., Du, Min, Lage, Josiane Fonseca, Teixeira, Priscilla D., Martins, Cyntia L. [UNESP], Domingues, Edmilson H.R., Fogaça, Luiz A. [UNESP], Ladeira, Marcio M.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2021.108676; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/222629
• topic: Gene expression; Marbling; Neonatal programming; Retinoic acid

This study aimed to evaluate intramuscular fat and expression of genes in the muscle of Montana × Nellore treated with vitamin A at birth. We hypothesized that an injection of vitamin A after birth would increase marbling by increasing the expression of angiogenic, adipogenic, and lipogenic genes. Animals treated with vitamin A had greater marbling in the longissimus muscle (P = 0.05). The vitamin A treatment increased the expression of VEGFA gene at 40 days of age and at weaning and increased the expression of ZNF423 at weaning and at harvesting (P ≤ 0.03). The expression of WNT was higher (P = 0.01) at 40 days of age and at weaning in the animals treated with vitamin A. Vitamin A also increased the expression of SREBF1 at 40 days of age and at weaning (P ≤ 0.05). Therefore, the administration of vitamin A to cattle at birth could be a way to increase carcass marbling without affecting the performance of the animals.