The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the lipid supplementation on finishing of Red Norte young bulls in the meat qualitative characteristics. Twenty seven young bulls with at initial average weight of 317± 33kg were used, according with the diets: no lipid supplementation (SSL), supplemented with soybeans oil (SOS) and supplemented with fry oil (SOF). The experiment lasted 112 days, being 28 days was for adaptation to experimental diets. The animals received "ad libitum" diets to average daily gain of 1,5kg and were slaughtered in industrial slaughterhouse. The chemical composition and the cholesterol of the meat and the subcutaneous fat were not influenced by treatments (P>0,05). There was interaction (P<0,01) between treatments and share force (FC) whereas for water holding capacity (CRA), cooking losses (PPC) and pH there was only treatment effect (P<0,01). To characteristics of color, there was interaction between treatment and day to yellow intensity (b*), saturation index (c*) and tone angle (h*) (P>0,05), whereas for red intensity (a*) there was effect of treatment (P<0,001) and days (P<0,001) and to luminosity (L*) there was effect only to treatment (P<0,001). The lipid supplementation was not influenced the chemical composition of the meat and its cholesterol content. The soybeans oil influenced the meat color, without compromising its quality. However, the fry oil showed meat with high pH, which is undesirable for human consumption.
cattle; lipid supplementation; maturation; meat quality