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Measures of Carcass Yield and Tenderness of Two Muscles in Four Groups of Beef Carcasses¹

Iowa State University^,3, Ames

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop a method for accurately estimating carcass muscling from easy, rapid and economical measurements. Four different cattle populations were included to investigate possible effects of different populations on the prediction equations.

Some useful equations developed to estimate percent separable muscle, percent retail yield, percent separable muscle of the four major wholesale cuts, and percent retail yield of the four major wholesale cuts used fat thickness per 50 kg. of carcass weight and l. dorsi area per 50 kg. of carcass weight as the only two variables. The equation (based on 212 carcasses) for predicting percent separable muscle=64.832-22.905 (fat thickness per 50 kg. of carcass)+0.724 (l. dorsi area per 50 kg. of carcass). The corresponding equation for percent retail yield=52.340-21.909 (fat thickness per 50 kg. of carcass weight)+0.924 (l. dorsi area per 50 kg. of carcass weight). All multiple correlations for these estimates were above 0.7.

Certain combinations of other variables also yielded equations which exhibited multiple correlations above 0.7, but either the measurements used in these equations were not as convenient to obtain as fat thickness over the 12th rib, carcass weight and l. dorsi area, or the measurements involved only negative estimates of muscling. Accuracy of the equation involving fat thickness, l. dorsi area and carcass weight was not increased by the addition of percent kidney fat.

Multiple correlations and regression coefficients for equations involving the same variables in many cases differed significantly among the different cattle populations, suggesting the necessity of describing very clearly the population sampled when reporting beef carcass evaluation data.

The low relationship between Warner-Bratzler shear measurements of the l. dorsi and tenderness of the semitendinosus suggests use of the l. dorsi as the muscle on which tenderness measurements should be made, since the l. dorsi is normally cooked in a manner which might make tenderness of concern to the consumer.

¹ Cooperation of the Bookey Packing Company, Des Moines, Iowa, is gratefully acknowledged.

² The authors express their appreciation to L. N. Hazel for discussion and suggestions regarding this work.

³ Journal Paper No. J-5166 of the Iowa Agricultural and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, Iowa. Project No. 1566.