The objective ofthis study was to evaluate the effect of addition of different levels of cottonseed(0, 14.35, 27.51 and 34.09 kg/100 kg) in the diet of Nellore steers on the meatcharacteristics. Thirty-six steers (average initial body weight of 333.50 andaverage age of 20 months) were kept in feedlot stalls for 94 days, each stallwith three animals. The experiment was a completely randomized design with fourtreatments and nine replications. The values of protein, fixed mineral residue,shear force, lipid oxidation, meat color and fat color were similar among thetreatments. The increase of the cottonseed levels in the diet reduced the amountof intramuscular fat and increased the moisture content in the meat linearly.Meat aroma and flavor were negatively influenced when cottonseed addition wasgreater than 27.51 and 34.09 kg/100 kg of the diet, respectively. Cottonseeddiet did not modify the concentration of conjugated linoleic acid, saturatedfatty acids or total unsaturated fatty acids, but linearly reduced the concentrationof monounsaturated fatty acids in the meat.
