carcass width and leg length were greater (P o 0.05) for HF (Table 8). All carcass measurements were lower (P o 0.05) for JE than for HF, and all but carcass length and leg length were lower (P o 0.05) for JE than for NR. Carcass length, leg thickness and circumference of round were not significantly affected by gender, otherwise, carcass width (P o 0.01) and leg length (P o 0.001) were greater, while leg width was less (P o 0.001) for steers than bulls. All measurements, other than carcass width were greater (P o 0.05) for the Heavy than for the Light slaughter weight group. There was a breed gender interaction for circumference of round because of a greater difference between bulls and steers for HF than for the other two breed types.
When scaled for carcass weight, only leg thickness, which was greater (P o 0.05) for NR, differed between HF and NR. All values for JE, other than leg thickness which did not offer from NR, were greater (P o 0.05) than for the other two breed types. All scaled carcass measurements were affected by gender with all values for steers being higher
(P o 0.05) than for bulls. Scaled carcass measurements were also affected by slaughter weight, with lower values (P o 0.05) for the Heavy slaughter weight group in all cases.
3.6. Carcass and muscle traits
NR had a greater (P o 0.05) proportion of carcass side weight in the pistola than both HF and JE which did not differ (Table 9). There was no difference between HF and NR in M. longissimus area, but JE had a lower (P o 0.05) value than the other two breed types. However, when M. longissimus area was scaled for carcass weight there was no significant breed effect. Bulls had a lower (P o 0.01) proportion of pistola in the carcass side than steers but they had a greater (P o 0.001) M. longissimus area, both in absolute value and when scaled for carcass weight. With increasing slaughter weight, the propor- tion of pistola in the carcass side decreased (P o 0.001), and while absolute M. longissimus area increased (P o 0.05), it decreased (P o 0.01) relative to carcass weight. There were