The welfare, bruising incidence of 3,415 Nelore cattle transported on different types of truck (simple truck, trailer truck, and double-deck trailer) and transport distance was evaluated.Animals transported by double deck and trailer showed a higher incidence of falls (77.52ª; 75.31ª) compared to simple trucks (49.09b). Higher incidence of slips (95.78ª), vocalizations (82.9ª), use of electrical probes (96.06ª) and crashing into fixed objects (88.74ª) were also observed in animals transported by double deck in comparison to the trailer and simple truck. In the second experiment, 120 Nelore beef cattle were transported using the same trucks in the same slaughterhouse but in two different transport distance (over 180km and below 130km). Was observed a higher incidence of bruising on carcasses of cattle transported by double deck truck in both distances (1.09ª, 1.02b) in comparison to the others treatments, as well as greater extent of lesions (1.81ª, 1.65b). Was used the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test at 5% significance in a randomized design.
carcass; cattle; quality; stress; transportation; truck