Cattle temperament: Persistence of assessments and associations with productivity, efficiency, carcass and meat quality traits1

Abstract

Relationships between temperament and a range of performance, carcass, and meat quality traits in young cattle were studied in 2 experiments conducted in New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA), Australia. In both experiments, growth rates of cattle were assessed during backgrounding on pasture and grain finishing in a feedlot. Carcass and objective meat quality characteristics were measured after slaughter. Feed intake and efficiency during grain finishing were also determined in NSW. Brahman (n = 82 steers and 82 heifers) and Angus (n = 25 steers and 24 heifers) cattle were used in the NSW experiment. In NSW, temperament was assessed by measuring flight speed [FS, m/s on exit from the chute (crush)] on 14 occasions, and by assessing agitation score during confinement in the crush (CS; 1 = calm to 5 = highly agitated) on 17 occasions over the course of the experiment. Brahman (n = 173) and Angus (n = 20) steers were used in the WA experiment. In WA, temperament was assessed by measuring FS on 2 occasions during backgrounding and on 2 occasions during grain feeding. At both sites, a hormonal growth promotant (Revalor-H, Virbac, Milperra, New South Wales, Australia) was applied to one-half of the cattle at feedlot entry, and the Brahman cattle were polymorphic for 2 calpain-system markers for beef tenderness. Temperament was not related (most P > 0.05) to tenderness gene marker status in Brahman cattle and was not (all P > 0.26) modified by the growth promotant treatment in either breed. The Brahman cattle had greater individual variation in, and greater correlations within and between, repeated assessments of FS and CS than did the Angus cattle. Correlations for repeated measures of FS were greater than for repeated assessments of CS, and the strength of correlations for both declined over time. Average FS or CS for each experiment and location (NSW or WA × backgrounding or finishing) were more highly correlated than individual measurements, indicating that the average values were a more reliable assessment of cattle temperament than any single measure. In Brahman cattle, increased average FS and CS were associated with significant (P < 0.05) reductions in backgrounding and feedlot growth rates, feed intake and time spent eating, carcass weight, and objective measures of meat quality. In Angus cattle, the associations between temperament and growth rates, feed intake, and carcass traits were weaker than in Brahmans, although the strength of relationships with meat quality were similar.

Molecular value predictions: Associations with beef quality, carcass, production, behavior, and efficiency phenotypes in Brahman cattle1

“…This demonstrates the potential of tenderness MVP for improving the palatability attributes of muscles with the capacity to age, such as the LM and GM. These findings are consistent with the effects of calpain-system tenderness gene markers on tenderness (Cafe et al, 2010b;Johnston and Graser, 2010;Robinson et al, 2012), particularly in muscles with the capacity to age (Cafe et al, 2010b;Robinson et al, 2012) but not other traits (Cafe et al, 2010a(Cafe et al, , 2011, apart from minor effects on fatness (Wolcott and Johnston, 2009).…”

“…Tenderness MVP also tended to have an unfavorable association with feedlot flight speed in both NSW and WA cattle, and this is consistent with the results of Cafe et al (2010a) in the WA experiment, which revealed that cattle with 2 favorable alleles for 2 of the tenderness markers (CAPN14751 and CAPN3) had, or tended to have, greater flight speeds. However, phenotypic correlations for the directly measured traits were positive (Cafe et al, 2011), implying that cattle with greater flight speed measurements produced less tender beef.…”

Estratégias de imputação de genótipos de marcadores SNP para estudos de associação genômica em animais da raça Nelore

“…Durante o manejo pré-abate animais mais agitados podem interferir de forma direta na qualidade de carne. O manejo na fazenda, embarque, transporte, mudança de ambiente, condições de confinamento, fome, sede e machucados afetam de forma significativa a fisiologia do animal podendo o levar a uma condição de estresse (FERGUSON; WARNER, 2008). Jeremiah et al (1988) demonstraram que a carne de animais submetidos a melhores condições pré-abate, transportados com uma menor distância e menor tempo de espera para o abate, foi melhor avaliada em um painel de aceitação pelos consumidores.…”

“…O temperamento de um animal pode variar de dócil a agressivo, sendo que animais dóceis são preferíveis para confinamentos em que o manejo se torna mais frequente (HOPE et al, 2010). Vários estudos têm relatado a importância do temperamento em bovinos, e seu impacto em características produtivas e econômicas (PHOCAS et al, 2006; PIMENTA et al, 2009;CAFE et al, 2011;FRANCISCO et al, 2012).…”

“…O temperamento de um animal pode variar de dócil a agressivo, sendo que animais dóceis são preferíveis para confinamentos em que o manejo se torna mais frequente (HOPE et al, 2010). Vários estudos têm relatado a importância do temperamento em bovinos, e seu impacto em características produtivas e econômicas (PHOCAS et al, 2006; PIMENTA et al, 2009;CAFE et al, 2011;FRANCISCO et al, 2012).Metodologias para avaliar o temperamento em bovinos estão bem descritas e consolidadas na literatura, porém são difíceis de serem mensuradas nos animais. Velocidade de saída (VS) é uma característica objetiva que avalia o tempo que o animal leva para percorrer uma distância fixa, desde a abertura da porta da balança (BURROW; SEIFERT; CORBET, 1988).…”