Relationship between Some Myostatin Variants and Meat Production Related Calving, Weaning and Muscularity Traits in Charolais Cattle.

The slaughter value of live cattle can be assessed during visual conformation scoring, as well as by examining different molecular genetic information, e.g., the myostatin gene, which can be responsible for muscle development. In this study, the F94L, Q204X, nt267, nt324 and nt414 alleles of the myostatin gene (MSTN) were examined in relation to birth weight (BIW), calving ease (CAE), 205-day weaning weight (CWW), muscle score of shoulder (MSS), muscle score of back (MSB), muscle score of thigh (MST), roundness score of thigh (RST), loin thickness score (LTS), and overall muscle development percentage (OMP) of Charolais weaned calves in Hungary. Multi-trait analysis of variance (GLM) and weighted linear regression analysis were used to process the data. Calves carrying the Q204X allele in the heterozygous form achieved approximately 0.14 points higher MSB, MST and LTS, and 1.2% higher OMP, and gained 8.56 kg more CWW than their counterparts not carrying the allele (p < 0.05). As for the F94L allele, there was a difference of 4.08 kg in CWW of the heterozygous animals, but this difference could not be proved statistically. The other alleles had no significant effect on the evaluated traits.

Individual Feed Efficiency Monitoring of Charolaise Candidate Young Bulls in Relation to Feeding Behavior and Self-Performance Test Results.

This study evaluated the effect of differences in residual feed intake (RFI) of Charolaise candidate young bulls on feeding behavior and self-performance test results. Bulls were classified into high and low RFI (H-RFI, L-RFI) groups. Bulls were fed in a HOKOFARM system to measure individual animal intake and behavior. L-RFI bulls had significantly lower feed intakes (p = 0.002) and higher gain to feed ratio (p = 0.001), lower intake per day/kg DM (dry matter) (p = 0.002) and lower intake g/body weight/day (p < 0.001). L-RFI animals had lower visits number per day (p = 0.02), but spent longer time per visit (p = 0.02), and tended to have higher intake g/visit (p = 0.06) on feeders. The correlation between RFI and DMI (dry matter intake)/bodyweight/day as well as intake per day/kg were large and positive. Back-loin length and rump length, and moreover muzzle width and frame, showed negative correlations with RFI value. However, bulls with better RFI values associated with lower legs score. Results reveal that RFI was shown beneficial correlations with economically relevant self-performance traits. Further investigations are needed to seek additional indicator traits that are predictive for RFI.