São Paulo State University (Unesp), School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Science, Department of Animal Science, Via de Acesso Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane s/n, 14884-900 Jaboticabal, SP, Brazil; University of Wisconsin, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, 436 Animal Science Building, 1675 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53706, USA.
University of Wisconsin, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, 436 Animal Science Building, 1675 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Meat Sci. 2022 May;187:108771. doi: 10.1016/j.meatsci.2022.108771. Epub 2022 Feb 14.
The objective of this study was to investigate potential causal relationships among hot carcass weight (HCW), longissimus muscle area (LMA), backfat thickness (BF), Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF), and marbling score (MB) traits in Nellore cattle using structural equation models (SEM). The SEM fitted comprises the following links between traits: WBSF → LMA, WBSF → HCW, HCW → LMA, BF → HCW, and BF → MB, where the arrows indicate the causal direction between traits, with structural coefficients posterior means (posterior standard deviation) equal to -0.29 cm/kg (0.09), 0.43 kg/kg (0.29), 0.10 cm/kg (0.006), 1.92 kg/mm (0.28), and 0.03 score-grade/mm (0.006), respectively. The final SEM revealed some important putative causal relationships among the traits studied here. The implied causal effects suggest that interventions on meat tenderness and fat content would affect overall growth and muscle deposition. Knowledge regarding potential causal relationships inferred among the traits studied here can have important implications for the genetic selection and management of Nellore cattle for improvement of carcass and meat quality.
本研究旨在使用结构方程模型（SEM）研究内罗尔牛的热胴体重（HCW）、最长肌面积（LMA）、背膘厚（BF）、 Warner-Bratzler 剪切力（WBSF）和大理石花纹评分（MB）性状之间的潜在因果关系。拟合的 SEM 包括以下性状之间的链接：WBSF→LMA、WBSF→HCW、HCW→LMA、BF→HCW 和 BF→MB，其中箭头表示性状之间的因果方向，结构系数后验均值（后验标准差）分别为-0.29cm/kg（0.09）、0.43kg/kg（0.29）、0.10cm/kg（0.006）、1.92kg/mm（0.28）和 0.03 评分级/mm（0.006）。最终的 SEM 揭示了研究中这些性状之间的一些重要潜在因果关系。暗示的因果效应表明，对肉质嫩度和脂肪含量的干预将影响整体生长和肌肉沉积。关于研究中这些性状之间推断出的潜在因果关系的知识对内罗尔牛的遗传选择和管理具有重要意义，可用于改善胴体和肉质。
