Phenotypic and Genetic Analysis of Meat Eating Quality Traits in Irish Cattle

Abstract Text: Recent consumer surveys have indicated that beef eating quality characteristics are a key concern of beef consumers. However, the repeatability and genetic basis of meat eating quality traits require further investigation. This study used a combined dataset of 515 animals with sensory panel eating quality traits to estimate genetic parameters and measures of trait repeatability. Repeatabilities were relatively strong for sensory tenderness (0.83) and juiciness (0.69) for animals with multiple records showing that sensory panel scoring was consistent across separate evaluations. Estimates of heritability were relatively low (h² = 0.07-0.11) with moderate to strong genetic correlations between the traits (r_g = 0.44-0.89). However standard errors of these estimates were large indicating that additional data will be required to ascertain the extent of the control that genetics holds over these traits.

Keywords:

beef cattle

meat eating quality

heritability