Table 3.

Somatic and meat quality (LTL) traits of the deer groups.

Trait	Grass	Grass–Papilionaceae	Papilionaceae
Body weight, initial (kg)	$\mathrm{67.6}\pm \mathrm{3.24}$	$\mathrm{69.8}\pm \mathrm{3.71}$	$\mathrm{68.4}\pm \mathrm{4.35}$
Body weight, final (kg)	$\mathrm{90.0}\pm {\mathrm{3.53}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{91.9}\pm {\mathrm{4.53}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{101.0}\pm {\mathrm{6.62}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Body weight gain (kg)	$\mathrm{22.4}\pm {\mathrm{2.27}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{22.1}\pm {\mathrm{3.84}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{32.6}\pm {\mathrm{5.68}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Carcass weight (kg)	$\mathrm{59.3}\pm {\mathrm{2.71}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{63.2}\pm {\mathrm{3.59}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{68.8}\pm {\mathrm{5.35}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
longissimus thoracis et lumborum mass (kg)	$\mathrm{1.85}\pm {\mathrm{0.18}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{1.96}\pm {\mathrm{0.15}}^{\mathrm{ab}}$	$\mathrm{2.11}\pm {\mathrm{0.35}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Total body fat volume (cm${}^{\mathrm{3}}$)	$\mathrm{4856}\pm {\mathrm{508.2}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{5904}\pm {\mathrm{541.4}}^{\mathrm{b}}$	$\mathrm{5959}\pm {\mathrm{1314}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Total body muscle volume (cm${}^{\mathrm{3}}$)	$\mathrm{28}\mathrm{661}\pm {\mathrm{1169}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{30}\mathrm{434}\pm {\mathrm{1999}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{32}\mathrm{580}\pm {\mathrm{2225}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
longissimus thoracis et lumborum volume (cm${}^{\mathrm{3}}{)}^{*}$	$\mathrm{2676}\pm {\mathrm{180.2}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{2819}\pm {\mathrm{315.4}}^{\mathrm{ab}}$	$\mathrm{3143}\pm {\mathrm{395.7}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Thigh muscle total volume (cm${}^{\mathrm{3}}$)	$\mathrm{12}\mathrm{550}\pm {\mathrm{884.8}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{13}\mathrm{645}\pm {\mathrm{1458}}^{\mathrm{ab}}$	$\mathrm{14}\mathrm{536}\pm {\mathrm{904.5}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Total body bone volume (cm${}^{\mathrm{3}}$)	$\mathrm{2843}\pm {\mathrm{229.8}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{2780}\pm {\mathrm{300.1}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{3586}\pm {\mathrm{356.3}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Liver weight (kg)	$\mathrm{1.38}\pm {\mathrm{0.11}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{1.51}\pm {\mathrm{0.15}}^{\mathrm{b}}$	$\mathrm{1.54}\pm {\mathrm{0.13}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
Perirenal fat weight (kg)	$\mathrm{0.14}\pm \mathrm{0.07}$	$\mathrm{0.14}\pm \mathrm{0.04}$	$\mathrm{0.17}\pm \mathrm{0.09}$
pH24	$\mathrm{5.49}\pm {\mathrm{0.02}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{5.55}\pm {\mathrm{0.07}}^{\mathrm{b}}$	$\mathrm{5.49}\pm {\mathrm{0.04}}^{\mathrm{a}}$
Dripping loss (%)	$\mathrm{2.95}\pm {\mathrm{1.00}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{4.93}\pm {\mathrm{1.47}}^{\mathrm{b}}$	$\mathrm{4.31}\pm {\mathrm{1.33}}^{\mathrm{ab}}$
Cooking loss (%)	$\mathrm{27.5}\pm {\mathrm{0.70}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{27.6}\pm {\mathrm{0.97}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{26.8}\pm {\mathrm{4.63}}^{\mathrm{a}}$
L (lightness)	$\mathrm{33.5}\pm {\mathrm{1.68}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{35.0}\pm {\mathrm{2.12}}^{\mathrm{ab}}$	$\mathrm{36.7}\pm {\mathrm{2.56}}^{\mathrm{b}}$
$a^{*}$	$\mathrm{20.3}\pm \mathrm{1.49}$	$\mathrm{21.1}\pm \mathrm{1.63}$	$\mathrm{20.8}\pm \mathrm{2.42}$
$b^{*}$	$\mathrm{4.78}\pm {\mathrm{0.91}}^{\mathrm{a}}$	$\mathrm{5.98}\pm {\mathrm{2.11}}^{\mathrm{ab}}$	$\mathrm{6.54}\pm {\mathrm{0.96}}^{\mathrm{b}}$

${}^{*}$ Right and left sides together${}^{\mathrm{a},\mathrm{b}}$ Different small uppercase indices mean significant ($P<\mathrm{0.05}$) intergroup differences by ANOVA.