This work was designed to study the effects of carcass maturity on meat quality characteristics and intramuscular connective tissue of beef semitendinosus muscle from Chinese native Yellow steers. Chemical determinations, histological and mechanical measurements were performed on the raw and cooked meat at 4 days post mortem. In raw meat, intramuscular fat, collagen solubility, mechanical stren...

The objectives of this study were to estimate genetic parameters for the carcass price and carcass traits contributing to carcass grading and to investigate the influence of each carcass trait on the carcass price using multiple regression and path analyses. Data for carcass traits and carcass prices were collected from March 2003 to January 2009 on steers of Korean cattle raised at private far...

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for the weights of different wholesale cuts, using an experimental and a commercial data set. The experimental and commercial data sets included 413 and 635 crossbred Belgian Blue, Charolais, Limousin, Angus, Holstein, and Simmental animals, respectively. Univariate analyses using a mixed linear animal model with relationships were ...

Total insulin specific binding (IB) and the number and affinity of insulin receptors on mononuclear leukocytes (MNL) were used to predict carcass composition of heifers and steers. Dependent variables were kidney fat, body cavity fat, s.c. fat, intermuscular fat, lean and bone. Independent variables were parameters that could be measured on the live animal, including insulin receptor characteri...

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between calving difficulty score and carcass traits in Charolais and Hereford cattle, treating first and later parity calvings as different traits. Genetic correlations between birth weight and carcass traits were also estimated. Field data on 59,182 Charolais and 27,051 Hereford calvings, and carcass traits of 5,260 Charolais and...

A new carcass EPD has been developed for the American Angus Association’s National Carcass Evaluation Program. A percentage of retail product EPD combines the traditional carcass traits (hot carcass weight, fat thickness, ribeye area and KPH) into a composite EPD. Although the heritabilitty for this trait (.25) is not the highest for the carcass traits, it is high enough for breeders to make si...

Over the years, numerous and varied techniques have been used for evaluation of meat quality and carcass composition. Very few existing assessment techniques meet industrial requirements, the most promising being cited as ultrasonic measurements for assessment of potential texture on live animals and whole carcasses and image processing and NIR spectroscopy of meat joints and cuts. In this arti...

last rib backfat thickness, broken vertebrae, or scores for stomach ulcers (P > 0.21). Also, deletions of VTM premixes did not affect these same measurements (P > 0.22). However, RAC decreased (P < 0.01) backfat thickness by 8% and tended to decrease scores for stomach ulcers (P < 0.06). In conclusion, there were no interactions to suggest that the effects of RAC on growth performance and carca...

Dietary Ca concentrations were manipulated during supplementation of zilpaterol hydrochloride (ZH) to evaluate impact on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics, and beef tenderness using 96 heifers (BW 392 kg ± 3.2). We hypothesized that temporary depletion followed by repletion of dietary Ca before harvest would increase intracellular Ca concentrations, thus stimulating postmortem activi...