Genetics Selection Evolution 2009, 41:36 http://www.gsejournal.org/content/41/1/36 Table 1: Carcass trait means, coefficients of variation and heritability estimates (adapted from: Gill, Matika, Williams, Worton, Wiener, and Bishop: Consistency statistics and genetic parameters for taste panel assessed meat quality traits in a commercial population of Angus-sired beef cattle (submitted)) Trait Tenderometer score, kPa1 Hot carcass weight, kg Sirloin weight after maturation, kg Conformation class, transformed numerical scale Eye muscle length as a % of sirloin length Eye muscle area, mm2 Eye muscle depth, mm Eye muscle length, mm Fat class, transformed numerical scale Sirloin fat depth, mm Gristle encroachment, mm Gristle distance from eye muscle base, mm Gristle distance from fat band, mm Gristle length, mm Sirloin weight as % of hindquarter weight Sirloin steak tail length, mm Temperature at 24 h, °C Hindquarter weight, kg Sirloin weight before maturation, kg pH at 24 h Mean 24.69 319.7 7.10 7.11 77.45 10870 69.51 156.3 8.61 6.41 20.73 53.55 14.23 69.23 9.71 46.95 4.06 73.44 7.14 5.56 CV 20.33 12.0 14.0 21.43 10.73 15.0 12.01 8.38 11.74 51.54 41.08 20.01 43.87 20.75 10.18 42.71 14.25 11.04 14.21 2.40 h2 (se)2 0.30 (0.22) 0.70 (0.28) 0.24 (0.18) 0.32 (0.20) 0.09 (0.15) - - 0.03 (0.12) 0.11 (0.14) 0.30 (0.20) 0.14 (0.18) 0.21 (0.21) 0.13 (0.18) - 0.45 (0.23) 0.13 (0.17) - 0.23 (0.20) 0.24 (0.18) 0.02 (0.14) 1 Units for tenderometer score are kilopascals 2 Where heritability values are absent the variance converged at a boundary until a thermometer placed in the centre of the steak reached 74°C. The six panellists then scored the steaks on a 1–8 scale for seven sensory traits, a full list of which can be seen in Table 2 along with an explanation of the scor- ing scheme used. In total there were 49 taste panel sittings. Taste panel members participated in one to 37 panels with an average of eight sittings per panellist. Paternity determination Due to the possibility of multiple sire mating and discrep- ancies between the recorded and the true sire, paternity was determined using genetic markers. Details are described in full in: Gill, Matika, Williams, Worton, Wiener, and Bishop: Consistency statistics and genetic parameters for taste panel assessed meat quality traits in a commercial population of Angus-sired beef cattle (sub- mitted). Briefly, genotypes were obtained for each sample for a panel of 15 unlinked microsatellite markers. Genotypes for each offspring and all possible sires were analyzed with the program Cervus [21], which assigns paternity using a likelihood method. There were 69 offspring whose sires could not be determined, therefore the sire was set to "unknown" in the pedigree, however, the phenotypes of these samples were retained in the analyses. SNP genotyping Samples were genotyped at eight SNP from five different genes by Orchid Cellmark Ltd (Oxfordshire, UK). Table 2: Means, coefficients of variation and heritability estimates for taste panel assessed sensory traits (adapted from: Gill, Matika, Williams, Worton, Wiener, and Bishop: Consistency statistics and genetic parameters for taste panel assessed meat quality traits in a commercial population of Angus-sired beef cattle (submitted)) Trait Abnormal flavour Abnormal odour Flavour Odour Juiciness Tenderness Overall liking 1 Extremely strong Extremely strong Extremely weak Extremely weak Extremely dry Extremely tough Disliked extremely 8 Extremely weak Extremely weak Extremely strong Extremely strong Extremely juicy Extremely tender Liked extremely 1 Where heritability values are absent the variance converged at a boundary Mean 6.24 6.36 5.54 5.26 5.52 5.72 5.62 CV 12.34 11.32 9.67 10.25 12.33 11.37 10.97 h2 (se)1 - - - - 0.15 (0.11) 0.06 (0.13) 0.16 (0.16) Page 3 of 12 (page number not for citation purposes)