CARCASS QUALITY TRAITS AMONG CROSSES OF ANGUS, SANTA GERTRUDIS AND GELBVIEH BEEF CATTLE

A total of 333 calves were evaluated for carcass quality traits including: dressing percentage (DP), yield grade (YG), marbling score (MS), fat thickness (FT) and percent body fat (PF). Mating types included straightbred Angus (A) and Santa Gertrudis (S), the reciprocal crosses of these two breeds and Gelbvieh (G) ${\times}$ Angus. The year of birth, slaughter group and dam breed were found to have greatly influenced DP. Mating types had no effect on DP. For YG, sire breed, sire within sire breed and slaughter group were important. Crossbreds of A ${\times}$ S had the highest YG followed by A purebreds. Crossbreds of G ${\times}$ A had the lowest YG. Sire breed, dam breed and the slaughter group has significantly affected the MS. Sire breed, sire nested within sire breed and slaughter group were found to have greatly influenced the FT. Sires and dams of A produced the greatest FT while sires of G produced the lowest. Slaughter group 2 (slaughtered at 433 days of age) had a greater FT than group 1 (slaughtered at 393 days of age). For PF, sire breed, sire within sire breed, dam breed and slaughter group had significant effects. A purebreds had the largest PF while S purebreds and G ${\times}$ A crosses had the least.