Table 1.
Descriptive statistics—means of the pooled data of all breeds and least squares means within breeds of production and tenderness data of South African feedlot-finished beef bulls.
| All Breeds (n = 166) |
Angus (n = 24) |
Bonsmara (n = 35) |
Brahman (n = 35) |
Charolais (n = 34) |
Nguni (n = 35) |
# p-Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BW (kg) | 388 ± 4.26 | 422 ± 9.65 a | 399 ± 4.26 b | 393 ± 7.44 b | 423 ± 5.39 a | 308 ± 3.39 c | 0.0001 | |
| 35dADG (kg/d) | 1.54 ± 0.04 | 1.81 ± 0.08 b | 1.62 ± 0.05 ab | 1.37 ± 0.06 a | 1.88 ± 0.09 c | 1.21 ± 0.07 c | 0.0001 | |
| HCW (kg) | 219 ± 2.46 | 234 ± 5.36 ab | 223 ± 2.87 b | 226 ± 4.67 b | 240 ± 3.44 a | 174 ± 2.07 c | 0.0001 | |
| CCW (kg) | 215 ± 2.42 | 229 ± 5.29 ab | 218 ± 2.82 b | 221 ± 4.67 b | 234 ± 3.34 a | 170 ± 2.09 c | 0.0001 | |
| Dressing% | 56.53 ± 0.15 | 55.62 ± 0.33 b | 55.96 ± 0.33 b | 57.44 ± 0.24 a | 56.64 ± 0.36 ab | 56.44 ± 0.34 ab | 0.0004 | |
| Mass Loss (%) | 2.18 ± 0.03 | 2.16 ± 0.07 | 2.30 ± 0.06 | 2.22 ± 0.08 | 2.25 ± 0.07 | 2.14 ± 0.09 | 0.0564 | |
| EMA (mm2) | 6 084 ± 64 | 5 853 ± 127 cd | 6 364 ± 134 ab | 5 922 ± 121 bc | 6 647 ± 127 a | 5 444 ± 120 d | 0.0001 | |
| WBSF (d 3) | 6.15 ± 0.09 | 5.89 ± 0.20 b | 5.74 ± 0.20 b | 6.63 ± 0.19 a | 6.09 ± 0.21 ab | 6.17 ± 0.24 ab | 0.0122 | |
| WBSF (d 9) | 4.83 ± 0.08 | −21.4% 1 | 4.41 ± 0.16 b | 4.53 ± 0.15 b | 5.38 ± 0.21 a | 4.88 ± 0.19 ab | 4.75 ± 0.21 b | 0.0006 |
| WBSF (d 14) | 4.17 ± 0.07 | −32.3% 1 | 3.75 ± 0.11 b | 4.20 ± 0.15 ab | 4.55 ± 0.15 a | 4.08 ± 0.16 ab | 3.99 ± 0.19 b | 0.0028 |
| WBSF (d 20) | 3.87 ± 0.07 | −37.1% 1 | 3.64 ± 0.13 ab | 4.08 ± 0.15 a | 4.09 ± 0.15 a | 3.82 ± 0.14 ab | 3.52 ± 0.15 b | 0.0022 |
| %ΔWBSF 2 | −38.3% | −28.9% | −38.3% | −37.3% | −42.9% | |||
| MFL (d 3) | 35.51 ± 0.48 | 36.35 ± 1.17 ab | 31.74 ± 0.87 c | 39.65 ± 1.23 a | 35.53 ± 0.95 b | 32.93 ± 0.79 bc | 0.0001 | |
| MFL (d 9) | 26.21 ± 0.31 | −26.2% 1 | 25.55 ± 0.66 bc | 23.57 ± 0.47 c | 29.08 ± 0.84 a | 26.65 ± 0.73 b | 25.35 ± 0.49 c | 0.0001 |
| MFL (d 14) | 23.92 ± 0.28 | −32.6% 1 | 22.87 ± 0.57 bc | 22.07 ± 0.44 c | 25.91 ± 0.71 a | 24.67 ± 0.79 ab | 23.72 ± 0.48 bc | 0.0001 |
| MFL (d 20) | 21.66 ± 0.23 | −39.0% 1 | 20.74 ± 0.49 bc | 19.88 ± 0.40 c | 22.93 ± 0.54 a | 22.60 ± 0.57 a | 21.90 ± 0.45 ab | 0.0001 |
| %ΔMFL 2 | −42.9% | −37.4% | −42.2% | −36.4% | −33.5% |
Least squares means (LSM) ± standard errors (SE) that were significantly different between breeds (p ≤ 0.05) were indicated with different ascending letter superscripts (a, b, c) in each row. # p-values derived from a GLM; 1 the difference in tenderness at the ageing period, compared to d 3 post-mortem; 2 the difference in tenderness on d 20 compared to d 3 post-mortem within each breed; 35dADG—average daily gain recorded over the last 35 days before slaughter; BW—live body weight at slaughter; CCW—cold carcass weight; EMA—eye muscle area; HCW—hot carcass weight; MFL—myofibril fragment length (µm); WBSF—Warner–Bratzler shear force (kg).