Abstract
The chemical composition of 80 young bull carcasses was related to the percentage of dissectable fat deposits, or the chemical composition of the 11th rib-joint. The percentage of dissectable fat in the joint was highly correlated with the percentage of water (r = -0.937), lipids (r = 0.952) and the caloric value of the carcass (r = 0.948). The correlation with the percentage of protein was lower (r = -0.699). As the correlations between chemical composition of the carcass and chemical composition of the 11th rib are not significantly higher than those between chemical composition of the carcass and percentage of dissectable fat in the rib, the latter was chosen as a predictor of the chemical composition of the carcass.