Sampling Period Comparisons. The significant effect
of sampling period on the percentage of 16:1 was
undetected by the Tukey-Kramer mean separation
procedure. Therefore, minor changes observed in the
percentage of 16:1 across sampling periods (Figure
3A) should be considered statistically null ( P > .05).
Percentages of 18:1 and 18:2 increased with age and
weight, whereas a decrease was observed for the
percentage of 18:3. In general, as steers grew older,
MUFA increased markedly, polyunsaturated fatty
acids ( PUFA) increased slightly (due to the increase
in 18:2), and SFA were reduced by 10 percentage
units ( P < .001) (Fig. 3B).