Study on Growth Curves of Longissimus dorsi Muscle Area, Backfat Thickness and Body Conformation for Hanwoo (Korean Native) Cows

The objective of this study was to estimate the parameters of Gompertz growth curves with the measurements of body conformation, real-time ultrasound longissimus dorsi muscle area (LMA) and backfat thickness (BFT) in Hanwoo cows. The Hanwoo cows (n = 3,373) were born in 97 Hanwoo commercial farms in the 17 cities or counties of Gyeongbuk province, Korea, between 2000 and 2007. A total of 5,504 ultrasound measurements were collected for the cows at the age of 13 to 165 months in 2007 and 2008. Wither height (HW), rump height (HR), the horizontal distance between the top of the hips (WH), and girth of chest (GC) were also measured. Analysis of variance was conducted to investigate variables affecting LMA and BFT. The effect of farm nested in location was included in the statistical model, as well as the effects of HW, HR, WH, and GC as covariates. All of the effects were significant in the analysis of variance for LMA and BFT (p<0.01), except for the HR effect for LMA. The two ultrasound measures and the four body conformation traits were fitted to a Gompertz growth curve function to estimate parameters. Upper asymptotic weights were estimated as 54.0 cm(2), 7.67 mm, 125.6 cm, 126.4 cm, 29.3 cm, and 184.1 cm, for LMA, BFT, HW, HR, WH, and GC, respectively. Results of ultrasound measurements showed that Hanwoo cows had smaller LMA and greater BFT than other western cattle breeds, suggesting that care must be taken to select for thick BFT rather than an increase of only beef yield. More ultrasound records per cow are needed to get accurate estimates of growth curve, which, thus, helps producers select animals with high accuracy.