Table 9.

Genetic (above the diagonal) and phenotypic correlations (below the diagonal) between protein efficiency and meat quality traits

	PE	L*	a*	b*	LMA	IMF	ShF	DL	CL	BT
PE		0.06 ± 0.20	− 0.27 ± 0.17	− 0.31 ± 0.18	0.72 ± 0.16	− 0.39 ± 0.15	0.003 ± 0.20	0.22 ± 0,19	0.59 ± 0.15	− 0.37 ± 0.16
L*	0.03 ± 0.05		− 0.16 ± 0.19	0.27 ± 0.19	0.36 ± 0.24	0.24 ± 0.18	− 0.57 ± 0.14	0.17 ± 0.22	0.19 ± 0.21	0.05 ± 0.20
a*	− 0.11 ± 0.06	0.15 ± 0.06		0.84 ± 0.06	− 0.33 ± 0.21	0.42 ± 0.14	− 0.39 ± 0.17	− 0.12 ± 0.19	− 0.50 ± 0.16	− 0.25 ± 0.18
b*	− 0.12 ± 0.05	0.54 ± 0.04	0.76 ± 0.02		− 0.28 ± 0.23	0.58 ± 0.13	− 0.61 ± 0.14	− 0.12 ± 0.20	− 0.43 ± 0,18	− 0.09 ± 0.19
LMA	0.22 ± 0.06	0.05 ± 0.06	− 0.19 ± 0.06	− 0.12 ± 0.06		− 0.04 ± 0.21	− 0.09 ± 0.25	0.51 ± 0.20	0.93 ± 0.10	0.14 ± 0.23
IMF	− 0.18 ± 0.06	0.26 ± 0.0	0.25 ± 0.06	0.35 ± 0.05	− 0.14 ± 0.06		− 0.18 ± 0.18	− 0.32 ± 0.17	− 0.20 ± 0.18	0.14 ± 0.17
ShF	0.01 ± 0.05	− 0.59 ± 0.03	− 0.34 ± 0.05	− 0.51 ± 0.04	0.03 ± 0.06	− 0.18 ± 0.05		− 0.09 ± 0.22	0.08 ± 0.21	0.11 ± 0.20
DL	0.14 ± 0.05	0.03 ± 0.05	− 0.02 ± 0.05	− 0.04 ± 0.05	0.24 ± 0.06	− 0.17 ± 0.06	0.01 ± 0.05		0.39 ± 0.18	− 0.11 ± 0.20
CL	0.17 ± 0.05	− 0.07 ± 0.05	− 0.20 ± 0.05	− 0.17 ± 0.05	0.43 ± 0.05	− 0.17 ± 0.05	0.20 ± 0.05	0.39 ± 0.04		0.23 ± 0.19
BT	− 0.18 ± 0.05	0.07 ± 0.05	0.03 ± 0.06	0.08 ± 0.05	0.06 ± 0.06	0.12 ± 0.06	− 0.10 ± 0.05	− 0.01 ± 0.05	− 0.04 ± 0.05

PE protein efficiency, L* meat lightness, a* meat redness, b* meat yellowness, LMA loin muscle area, IMF intramuscular fat, ShF shear force, DL drip loss, CL cooking loss, BT backfat thickness