Effects of gender and breed on carcass traits, chemical composition, and palatability attributes in Hereford and Simmental bulls and steers

Abstract

The effects of gender and breed on carcass and chemical composition, and palatability attributes were investigated in 222 Hereford and Simmental bulls and steers. Cattle were progeny of 12 Hereford and 17 Simmental sires using six half-sibs per sire. Bulls were fed a 64% TDN diet to slaughter endpoints of either 4, 7, or 10 mm backfat. Steers were fed diets containing up to 80% TDN until cattle achieved 7 to 10 mm backfat. Gender effects were confounded with diet to take into account differences in commercial cattle feeding vs. bull testing. Gender by breed interactions (P < 0.05) were present for carcass traits due to large between breed differences for bulls as limited ability for Simmental bulls to fatten resulted in deposition of more lean tissue. Gender by breed interactions (P < 0.05) were present for shear, and tenderness and flavour attributes. Beef from Simmental bulls was characterized with less flavour intensity, and tough due to high scores for shear and time spent chewing, and low scores for softness and tenderness. Shear, tenderness, and flavour attributes were similar among Herefords of both genders and Simmental steers. Palatability attributes for Hereford bulls managed in a bull test program were non-significantly different than those from Hereford steers managed in a feedlot environment, suggesting that palatability attributes for steers could be predicted from bulls. This was not the case with Simmental bulls probably due to limited fattening ability on a relatively low energy bull test diet.