Table 4.

Effects of DA on carcass traits and liver scores of finishing beef steers

	Treatment				P-value1
Item	Control	LowDA	HighDA	SEM	L	Q
Carcass characteristics
Carcass weight, kg	402	404	404	4.45	0.82	0.84
Dressing percentage, %	60.6	60.2	59.8	0.21	0.01	0.95
Back fat, mm	19.0	17.59	18.0	0.74	0.36	0.27
LM area, cm2	88.4	90.8	86.2	1.48	0.28	0.05
Saleable meat yield2, %	51.6	53.1	51.8	0.67	0.85	0.09
AAA3, %	77.5	92.3*	85.0	—	0.21
AA3, %	20.0	7.7	12.5	—	0.29
Liver scores
Abscessed livers, %	55.0	59.0	55.0	—	0.92
Severely abscessed4, %	50.0	30.8**	42.5	—	0.23

¹L, linear effects; Q, quadratic effects.

²Proportion of the carcass that can be processed and sold to the consumer.

³Quality grades were determined according to Canadian Beef Grading Agency and expressed as percentage of total carcasses.

⁴Percentage of livers classified as A+ (1 or more active abscess >2.5 cm diameter with inflammation of surrounding tissue).

^*Trend for an increase in AAA carcasses; LowDA vs. control (P = 0.08).

^**Trend for less severely abscessed livers; LowDA vs. control (P = 0.09).