Genetics of meat quality and carcass traits and the impact of tenderstretching in two tropical beef genotypes
M. L. Wolcott A B E , D. J. Johnston A B , S. A. Barwick A B , C. L. Iker A B , J. M. Thompson A C and H. M. Burrow A DA Cooperative Research Centre for Beef Genetic Technologies, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit 1 , University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
C University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
D CSIRO Livestock Industries, Rockhampton, Qld 4702, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: mwolcott@une.edu.au
Animal Production Science 49(6) 383-398 https://doi.org/10.1071/EA08275
Submitted: 11 November 2008 Accepted: 23 February 2009 Published: 13 May 2009
Abstract
Meat quality and carcass traits were measured for 2180 feedlot finished Brahman (BRAH) and Tropical Composite (TCOMP) steers to investigate genetic and non-genetic influences on shear force, and other meat quality traits. Genetic and phenotypic correlations were estimated between carcass and meat quality traits, and with live animal measurements collected in steers from weaning to feedlot exit, and their heifer half-sibs up to their first mating, which were managed in Australia’s tropical or subtropical environments. Left sides of carcasses were tenderstretched (hung by the aitch-bone) while right sides were conventionally hung (by the Achilles tendon). Tenderstretching reduced mean shear force by 1.04 kg, and phenotypic variance by 77% of that observed in conventionally hung sides. Genotype differences existed for carcass traits, with TCOMP carcasses significantly heavier, fatter, with greater eye muscle area, and lower retail beef yield than BRAH. TCOMP had lower shear force, and higher percent intramuscular fat. Meat quality and carcass traits were moderately heritable, with estimates for shear force and compression of 0.33 and 0.19 for BRAH and 0.32 and 0.20 for TCOMP respectively. In both genotypes, estimates of heritability for carcass traits (carcass weight, P8 and rib fat depths, eye muscle area and retail beef yield) were consistently moderate to high (0.21 to 0.56). Shear force and compression were genetically correlated with percent intramuscular fat (r g = –0.26 and –0.57, respectively), and meat colour (r g = –0.41 and –0.68, respectively). For TCOMP, lower shear force was genetically related to decreased carcass P8 fat depth (r g = 0.51). For BRAH steers and heifers measured at pasture, fatness traits and growth rates were genetically correlated with shear force, although the magnitude of these relationships varied with time of measurement. Net feed intake was significantly genetically correlated with carcass rib fat depth (r g = 0.49), eye muscle area (r g = –0.42) and retail beef yield (r g = –0.61). These results demonstrate that selection to improve production and carcass traits can impact meat quality traits in tropically adapted cattle, and that genotype specific evaluations will be necessary to accommodate different genetic relationships between meat quality, carcass and live animal traits.
Additional keywords: feed efficiency, genetic correlations, growth, heritability, tenderness, tenderstretch.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the Cooperative Research Centre for Cattle and Beef Quality (and its core partners: The University of New England, NSW DPI, CSIRO, and Queensland DPI), the Commonwealth funding through the CRC Program, and the financial support of Meat and Livestock Australia and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. The cattle used for this experiment were contributed by producers from the Northern Pastoral Group, and their financial support of this project is gratefully acknowledged. We also acknowledge all Beef CRC scientific and technical staff that contributed to or supported the work, including those involved in the cattle management, data collection, laboratory analyses, and data handling and management. We especially acknowledge the contributions of Diana Perry, Paul Reynolds, Andrew Blakely, Andrew Slack-Smith, Jason Siddell, Sheridan Moll and Felix Graser for their work in coordinating and conducting the carcass measurements, meat sample collection and meat quality laboratory analyses. Also, the contributions of Vince Edmonston, Rebecca Farrell, Roger Sneath and John Bertrand, of the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, in the co-ordination of kills, and collection of carcass measurements are gratefully acknowledged.
Baker SD,
Szasz JI,
Klein TA,
Kuber PS,
Hunt CW,
Glaze JB,
Falk D,
Richard R,
Miller JC,
Battaglia RA, Hill RA
(2006) Residual feed intake of purebred Angus steers: Effects on meat quality and palatability. Journal of Animal Science 84, 938–945.
[Verified 17 March 2009]
Ferguson DM,
Jiang S,
Hearnshaw H,
Rymill SR, Thompson JM
(2000) Effect of electrical stimulation on protease activity and tenderness of M. longissimus from cattle with different proportions of Bos indicus content. Meat Science 55, 265–272.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Gilmour AR,
Cullis BR,
Welham SJ,
Gogel B, Thompson R
(2004) An efficient computing strategy for prediction in mixed linear models. Computational Statistics & Data Analysis 44, 571–586.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Harper GS
(1999) Trends in skeletal muscle biology and the understanding of toughness in beef. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 50, 1105–1129.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Hostetler RL,
Landmann WA,
Link BA, Fitzhugh HA
(1970) Influence of carcass position during rigour on tenderness of beef muscles: comparison of two treatments. Journal of Animal Science 31, 47–50.
Johnston DJ,
Reverter A,
Robinson DL, Ferguson DM
(2001) Sources of variation in mechanical shear force measurements of tenderness in beef from tropically adapted genotypes, effects of data editing and their estimation for genetic parameter estimation. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 41, 991–996.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Johnston DJ,
Reverter A,
Burrow HM,
Oddy VH, Robinson DL
(2003a) Genetic and phenotypic characterisation of animal, carcass and meat quality traits for temperate and tropically adapted beef breeds. 1. Animal measures. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 54, 107–118.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Johnston DJ,
Reverter A,
Ferguson DM,
Thompson JM, Burrow HM
(2003b) Genetic and phenotypic characterisation of animal, carcass and meat quality traits for temperate and tropically adapted beef breeds. 3. Meat quality traits. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 54, 135–147.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Johnston DJ,
Barwick SA,
Corbet NJ,
Fordyce G,
Holroyd RG,
Williams PJ, Burrow HM
(2009) Genetics of heifer puberty in two tropical beef genotypes in northern Australia and associations with heifer‐ and steer‐production traits. Animal Production Science 49, 399–412.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Kadel MJ,
Johnston DJ,
Burrow HM,
Graser H-U, Ferguson DM
(2006) Genetics of flight time and other measures of temperament and thief value as selection criteria for improving meat quality traits in tropically adapted breeds of beef cattle. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 57, 1029–1035.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Mackinnon MJ,
Meyer K, Hetzel DJS
(1991) Genetic variation and covariation for growth, parasite resistance and heat tolerance in tropical cattle. Livestock Production Science 27, 105–122.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Meyer K
(2007) Multivariate analyses of carcass traits for Angus cattle fitting reduced rank and factor analytic models. Journal of Animal Breeding and Genetics 124, 50–64.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Newman S,
Reverter A, Johnston DJ
(2002) Purebred–crossbred performance and genetic evaluation of postweaning growth and carcass traits in Bos indicus × Bos taurus crosses in Australia. Journal of Animal Science 80, 1801–1808.
O’Connor SF,
Tatum JD,
Wulf DM,
Greed RD, Smith GC
(1997) Genetic effects on beef tenderness in Bos indicus composite and Bos taurus cattle. Journal of Animal Science 57, 1822–1830.
Page JK,
Wulf DM, Schwotzer TR
(2001) A survey of beef muscle colour and pH. Journal of Animal Science 797, 678–687.
Perry D, Thompson JM
(2005) The effect of growth during backgrounding and finishing on meat quality traits in beef cattle. Meat Science 69, 691–702.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Perry D,
Thompson JM,
Hwang IH,
Butchers A, Egan AF
(2001) Relationship between objective measurements and taste panel assessment of beef quality. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 41, 981–989.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Pringle TD,
Williams SE,
Lamb BS,
Johnson DD, West RL
(1997) Carcass characteristics, the calpain proteinase system and aged tenderness in Angus and Brahman crossbred steers. Journal of Animal Science 75, 2955–2961.
Reverter A,
Johnston DJ,
Ferguson DM,
Perry D,
Goddard ME,
Burrow HM,
Oddy VH,
Thompson JM, Bindon BM
(2003a) Genetic and phenotypic characterisation of animal, carcass and meat quality traits for temperate and tropically adapted beef breeds. 4. Correlations among animal, carcass and meat quality traits. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 54, 149–158.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Reverter A,
Johnston DJ,
Perry D,
Goddard ME, Burrow HM
(2003b) Genetic and phenotypic characterisation of animal, carcass and meat quality traits for temperate and tropically adapted beef breeds. 2. Abattoir carcass traits. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 54, 119–134.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Riley DG,
Chaser CC,
Hammond AC,
West RL,
Johnson DD,
Olson TA, Coleman SW
(2003) Estimated genetic parameters for palatability traits of steaks for Brahman cattle. Journal of Animal Science 81, 54–60.
Robinson DL, Oddy VH
(2004) Genetic parameters for feed efficiency, fatness, muscle area and feeding behavior of feedlot finished beef cattle. Livestock Production Science 90, 255–270.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Shackelford SD,
Koohmaraie M,
Cundiff LV,
Gregory KE,
Rohrer GA, Savell JW
(1994) Heritabilities and phenotypic and genetic correlations for bovine postrigor calpastatin activity, intramuscular fat content, Warner-Bratzler shear force, retail product yield, and growth rate. Journal of Animal Science 72, 857–863.
Shackelford SD,
Wheeler TL, Koohmaraie M
(1995) Relationship between shear force and trained sensory panel tenderness ratings of 10 major muscles from Bos indicus and Bos taurus cattle. Journal of Animal Science 73, 3333–3340.
Sherbeck JA,
Tatum JD,
Field TG,
Morgan JB, Smith CG
(1996) Effect of phenotypic expression of Brahman breeding on marbling and tenderness traits. Journal of Animal Science 74, 304–309.
Smith T,
Domingue JD,
Paschal JC,
Franke DE,
Bidner TD, Whipple G
(2007) Genetic parameters for growth and carcass traits of Brahman steers. Journal of Animal Science 85, 1377–1384.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Thompson JM
(2002) Managing meat tenderness. Meat Science 62, 295–308.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Thompson JM,
Perry D,
Daly B,
Gardner GE,
Johnston DJ, Pethick DW
(2006) Genetic and environmental effects on the muscle structure response post mortem. Meat Science 74, 59–65.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Watson R,
Polkinghorne R, Thompson JM
(2008) Development of the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) model for beef palatability. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 48, 1368–1379.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar |
Wulf DM, Wise JW
(1999) Measuring muscle colour on beef carcasses using the L* a* b* colour space. Journal of Animal Science 77, 2418–2427.
1 Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit is a joint venture of the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and the University of New England.
