Efeitos da nutrição materna no desenvolvimento e na qualidade de carcaça da progênie bovina

Abstract

The term known as fetal programming can be explained based on the idea that the nutritional status and environmental conditions to which the dam is subjected during pregnancy, can generate consequences the entire life of their progeny. These changes influence the development of bovine progeny having impacting effects of their growth and performance, carcass composition and meat quality. During the early development, a pool of mesenchymal cells proliferates into myogenic and adipo-fibrogenic progenitor cells, responsible for the processes of myogenesis, adipogenesis and fibrogenesis. With the increase in the proliferation of these progenitor cells during fetal development, there is also na increase in muscle development and the production of lean mass of the progeny. In contrast, promoting adipogenic differentiation within the muscle increases the amount of intramuscular adipocytes and decreases connective tissue, which improves beef marbling and tenderness. The maternal nutritional deficiency during fetal development can generate negative consequences that last until the postnatal life of proneny, from muscle development due to reducing the formation of muscle fibers, development of adipose tissue by decreasing the formation of intramuscular adipocytes (fundamental for a good carcass quality) to the reproductive performance of the animals. Thus, better maternal nutrition and a postnatal supplentation strategy may be options that increase production efficiency, improve the quality of the final product and decrease the age at slaughter of the progeny. Therefore, the present review aimed to collect and discuss recent studies on the effects of maternal nutrition on fetal development and carcass quality.