Effects of feeding two different blends of essential oils to finishing steers on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, meat composition, and shelf life

The objective was to evaluate the effects of feeding two different commercially available blends of essential oils to finishing steers to replace conventional feed additives in feedlot diets. Angus-based crossbred steers [N = 43; starting body weight (BW) = 466 ± 31 kg] were used in a randomized complete block design. Steers were randomly assigned to four different dietary treatments for the 100 d finishing period in which steers were fed high-moisture corn/alfalfa silage/soybean meal diets. Dietary treatments included a negative control (no additives; CON), a positive control (33 mg·kg−1 monensin and 11 mg·kg−1 tylosin added to the diet; M/T), and two different proprietary blends of essential oils [EO-1: 1 g·steer−1·d−1 Victus Liv (DSM Nutritional Products) and EO-2: 4 g·steer−1·d−1 Fortissa Fit 45 (Provimi Canada ULC)]. Growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, sensory attributes (excluding juiciness), most fatty acid parameters, and shelf-life (color and lipid oxidative stability) were generally unaffected by the inclusion of two different commercially available essential oil blends when compared with both a negative control (CON) and a positive control (M/T). This indicates that commercially available essential oil blends may show promise as a replacement to conventional feed additives like antibiotics without causing negative effects to meat quality, storage stability, and eating experience.