Heritabilities and genetic correlation, and sire and environment effects on meat production potential of Hanwoo cattle

Genetic parameters of live weight at slaughter (LWT), quantity index (QIX), yield grade (YGD), quality grade (QGD), pH of meat, and boiled meat tenderness in terms of mastication (BMAS), shear force (BSFR) and penetration (BPEN) in Hanwoo steers were estimated. 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 pH and BSFR. The LWT, QIX and QGD were also significantly affected both by location and by interaction effect between sirexlocation. The BSFR and BPEN were significantly (p<0.01) affected by location but not significantly by sirexlocation interaction. The boiled meat tenderness and pH were negatively correlated (r_g and r_p) with LWT, QIX and QGD. All the other traits were positively correlated with each other. Positive and high genetic correlation (+0.56) between LWT and QGD was obtained indicating that selection for LWT would improve QGD. The h² estimates were 0.43, 0.37, 0.37, 0.35 and 0.32 for QGD, LWT, pH, BSFR and BPEN, respectively.