Sire breed effect on carcass and temperament traits

Abstract

This paper aimed to identify and evaluate the effects of sire breed on temperament and productive traits of different cross-breeds between Nellore (NE), Tabapua (TB), and Brahman (BR) bulls mated with Angus cows (AN), as well as the relationship between temperament and productive traits. The productive traits measured in this study include slaughter weight and post weaning weight gain. Temperament was assessed by flight-speed (FS). Carcass data collected in this study include hot carcass weight, hot carcass percentage, cold dressing percentage, carcass length, initial pH, ultimate pH, subcutaneous fat thickness and carcass longissimus muscle area. The sire breed effect was greater for slaughter weight. Hot carcass weight was not affected by the sire breed. The longissimus muscle area was larger for AN x TB and AN x NE crossbreeds than for AN x BR crossbreeds. Subcutaneous fat thickness and cold dressing percentage were not affected by sire breed. The offspring of NE, TB, and BR sires mated with AN cows had similar carcass measurements, except for the longissimus muscle area, which was smaller for offspring sired by the Brahman breed. The temperament trait was not influenced by sire breed.

Genetic and environmental effects on weaning weight in crossbred beef cattle (Bos taurus × Bos indicus)

“…In addition to the heterosis effect on individual performance, maternal heterosis results in maternal environmental benefit and higher milk yield, which allows for higher calf growth during the lactation (Leal et al ., 2018). Some studies have reported the influence of cows (Meyer et al ., 1994; Leal et al ., 2018; Mendonça et al ., 2019) and bulls (Baker et al ., 2001; Schatz et al ., 2014; Cardoso et al ., 2018) breed compositions on the calf performance, assessing mainly the weaning weight. However, environmental factors such as the nutritional and health management of the herd, body condition and age of the dam at calving may impact calf growth, being the latter factor of great relevance as it affects the maternal–offspring behaviour and milk production (Silva et al ., 2015).…”