Estimation of genetic and environmental parameters of carcass traits in Hanwoo (Korean native cattle) populations

Genetic parameters of carcass weight (CWT), dressing percent (DP), cook loss (CL), eye muscle area (EMA), back fat thickness (BFT), and meat tenderness in terms of mastication (MAS), shear force (SFR) and penetration (PEN) in Korean native cattle were estimated in this study. Effects of sire, location and their interaction on these traits were also evaluated. Sire effects were found to be significant on all the traits studied except for PEN. The CWT and DP were also significantly affected both by location (p<0.01) and by interaction effect between sirexlocation (p<0.05). The EMA was significantly (p<0.05) affected by location but not by interaction effect between sirexlocation. All the traits were positively correlated (r_g and r_p) with each other except between CL and meat tenderness (negatively correlated). Moderate to high genetic correlations between CWT and other important traits were obtained; indicating that selection for CWT would lead to improve carcass quality. Heritability estimates were 0.64, 0.52, 0.37, 0.25, 0.19 and 0.18 for MAS, SFR, CWT, PEN, DP and EMA, respectively.