Effects of breed and nutrition on the productive traits of beef cattle in South East Brazil: Part 2—Tissue distribution and carcase composition

This paper is the second in a series recording the effects of breed and nutrition on the productive traits of Nelore, Guzerá, Charolais and Canchim cattle in south-east Brazil. Significant treatment variations were recorded in carcase bone weights but differences in meat to bone ratios were not sufficiently marked to demonstrate that bone might grow at the expense of muscle when animals are maintained on particularly severe nutritional regimes. A simple carcase weight to length ratio was shown to be highly correlated with total bone proportion but not with yield of saleable meat. Recovery of total saleable meat was only marginally and not significantly affected by breed but was significantly affected by treatment. The increased levels of fatness in the carcases of the zebu and, in particular, all animals finished in feedlot, that affected the yield of saleable meat, was also thought to be responsible for the decreased recovery of first quality meat in these carcases. In general, tissue differences were more noticeable between treatments than between breeds and reflected the varying nutritional status of the animals pre-slaughter.