. 2021 Sep 30;63(5):1008–1017. doi: 10.5187/jast.2021.e84

Table 6. Effect of fattening period on carcass characteristics in Holstein steers.

Item	20 mon	21 mon	22 mon	23 mon	24 mon	SEM	p-value¹⁾
Body weight
Market wt (kg)	750.39^b	773.91^ab	776.30^ab	806.39^ab	812.84^a	15.01	0.0913
Cold carcass wt (kg)	414.79^b	434.42^ab	423.50^ab	442.92^a	446.45^a	8.57	0.0565
Carcass percentage (%)	55.28	56.13	54.55	54.92	54.92
Yield traits
Backfat thickness (mm)	5.14^b	7.50^ab	6.71^ab	6.54^ab	7.73^a	0.80	0.1915
Longissimus area (cm²)	77.21	77.83	75.14	74.38	74.27	2.00	0.6249
Yield index	65.05^a	63.19^ab	63.59^ab	63.13^ab	62.29^b	0.69	0.0869
Yield grade (%)
A	8.33	8.33	ND	ND	ND
B	91.67	83.34	91.67	91.67	66.67
C	ND	8.33	8.33	8.33	33.33
Marbling score²⁾	2.86	2.50	2.79	2.77	2.55	0.41	0.9648
Meat color³⁾	4.64	4.58	4.93	5.08	4.82	0.17	0.2278
Fat color⁴⁾	2.07^b	2.08^b	2.57^a	2.46^a	2.09^b	0.10	0.0020
Texture⁵⁾	1.79	1.83	1.93	2.00	1.91	0.06	0.4482
Maturity⁶⁾	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	0.00	ND
Quality grade (%)
1⁺	8.33	ND	8.33	ND	ND
1	25.00	33.33	25.00	25.00	16.67
2	50.00	41.67	41.67	58.33	66.67
3	16.67	25.00	25.00	16.67	16.67

¹⁾

Probability of the F-test.

²⁾

1, devoid; 9, the most abundant.

³⁾

1, bright red; 7, dark red.

⁴⁾

1, white; 7, yellowish.

⁵⁾

1, fine; 3, coarse.

⁶⁾

1, youthful; 9, mature.

^a,b

Means in the same row with different superscripts are significantly different (p < 0.05).