Table 4.
Carcass quality and yield characteristic of steers fed 10-G compared with non-supplemented control steers
| TRT1 | ||||
| Item | CON | 10-G | SEM | P-value |
| Hot carcass weight, kg | 414.7 | 413.2 | 1.94 | 0.16 |
| Dressed yield, % | 64.71 | 64.54 | 0.13 | 0.07 |
| Longisimus muscle area, cm2 | 100.19 | 99.75 | 0.60 | 0.28 |
| 12th-rib fat depth, cm | 1.30 | 1.29 | 0.03 | 0.96 |
| Marbling Score2 | 429 | 427 | 3.98 | 0.62 |
| EBF3, % | 28.63 | 28.61 | 0.18 | 0.92 |
| Quality grade, % | ||||
| Prime | 0.77 | 1.21 | - | 0.10 |
| Choice | 54.53 | 53.09 | - | 0.28 |
| Select | 43.94 | 44.88 | - | 0.48 |
| Other | 0.69 | 0.72 | - | 0.89 |
| Yield grade, % | ||||
| YG 1 | 18.96 | 18.16 | - | 0.44 |
| YG 2 | 41.32 | 41.23 | - | 0.95 |
| YG 3 | 31.09 | 31.58 | - | 0.68 |
| YG 4 | 6.53 | 7.00 | - | 0.47 |
| YG 5 | 0.62 | 0.52 | - | 0.61 |
1Treatments included no DFM (direct-fed microbial) contained in the diet (CON) and a diet containing L. acidophilus, E. faecium, P. pentosaceus, L. brevis, and L. plantarum fed at 2 g/steer/d providing 1 × 109 CFU (10-G) (Life Products, Inc., Norfolk, NE).
2300 = Slight, 400 = Small, 500 = Modest, and 600 = Moderate.
3Empty body fat calculated using EBF, % = 17.76107 + (4.68142 × FT) + (0.01945 × HCW) + (0.81855 × QG) − (0.06754 × LMA), where FT = 12th-rib fat thickness in cm, HCW = hot carcass weight in kg, QG = quality grade (4 = Select, 5 = Choice−, 6 = Choice, 7 = Choice+, and 8 = Prime), and LMA = longissimus muscle area in cm2 (Guiroy et al., 2001).