TI 06. Carcass characteristics of Zebu-influenced, grassfed bulls and their relationships to eating quality attributes

Abstract

Sensorial and shear force data of rib (longissimus) steaks from 419 Zebu-type, grass-fed bull carcasses were subjected to correlation analyses to study relationships of carcass traits to eating-quality attributes. Significant relationships were found between external fat estimators and most of the attributes under study, whereas marbling scores were not significantly related to any of them. The use of an Adipose Maturity score based on a fat color scale to adjust for a final maturity score or a final maturity index served to improve most of the associations of individual maturity (skeletal, lean and fat) indicators to beef quality attributes. Since carcass quality indicators did not account individually for more than 15% of the total variation observed in beef quality attributes, external fat measures and final maturity estimators should be used in conjunction to design carcass grading systems for zebu type bulls produced under grazing conditions.