RELATIONSHIPS AMONG CARCASS QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN AND WITHIN CARCASS QUARTERING SITES

Carcass quality characteristics were measured on 511 steers of 4 breed s that were destined for the Japanese market. All steers had carcass m easurements taken at the 10th/11th rib interface, while 103 steers had additional measurements made on the same characteristics at the 5th/6 th rib interface. Australian marbling score, longissimus muscle area: intramuscular fat percentage, intramuscular water content, Japanese in termuscular fat thickness, Japanese subcutaneous fat thickness, Japane se rib thickness, and meat pH were measured in the study. These measur ements allowed the phenotypic relationships between the different carc ass quality traits measured at the 10th/11th rib interface to be calcu lated. Significant positive correlations were observed among measureme nts of carcass fatness, and significant negative correlations were obs erved between carcass fatness and carcass water content. Angus and Mur ray Grey cattle had higher levels of marbling and intramuscular fat th an Hereford and Poll Hereford cattle. The data enabled Australian, USD A, and Japanese marbling standards to be compared on the basis of intr amuscular fat percentage determined by an ether extraction process. Di fferences between the same carcass characteristics taken at 5th/6th an d 10/11th rib interfaces of the longissimus dorsi were estimated from the 103 steers measured at both sites. Correlations between the rib si tes were high for marbling, intramuscular fat, and intramuscular water , but low for longissimus muscle area, intermuscular fat thickness, an d pH.