Abstract
Records from 210 cattle (119 bulls and 91 steers) of four breed-types slaughtered from approximately 200 to 800 kg live weight, were used to test the hypothesis of similar gender dimorphism among breed in relation to tissue growth patterns and carcass composition. The propensity for muscle growth decreased and that of fat accretion increased with the increase in carcass weight. Compositional differences among breed-types arose from differential growth rates of muscle, bone and fat. Differences in the proportion of fat among breed-types was a result of differences in onset of fattening coupled with nonsignificant differences in relative growth rate of fat. Compositional differences between bulls and steers resulted mostly from earlier and more rapid fattening in steers plus a high and more pronounced impetus for muscle growth in bulls. Differences between genders in carcass composition became more pronounced with increasing weight. Breed-type by gender interactions in composition resulted from a greater gender dimorphism in the later fattening breed-types, the effect of castration being more marked in these types.
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