Relationship between feed efficiency and slaughter traits of French Charolais bulls.

Improving feed efficiency is of interest to French beef producers so as to increase their profitability. To enable this improvement through selection, genetic correlations with production traits need to be quantified. The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters for growth, feed efficiency (FE), and slaughter performance of young beef bulls of the French Charolais breed. Three feed efficiency criteria were calculated: residual feed intake (RFI), residual gain (RG), and ratio of FE. Data on feed intake, growth, and FE were available for 4,675 Charolais bulls tested in performance test stations and fed with pelleted diet. Between 1985 and 1989, 60 among 510 of these bulls were selected to procreate one generation of 1,477 progeny bulls which received the same pelleted diet at the experimental farm in Bourges. In addition to feed intake, growth, and FE traits, these terminal bulls also had slaughter traits of carcass yield, carcass composition, and weight of visceral organs collected. Genetic parameters were estimated using linear mixed animal models. Between performance test bulls and terminal bulls, the genetic correlation of RFI was 0.80 ± 0.18; it was 0.70 ± 0.21 for RG and 0.46 ± 0.20 for FE. For carcass traits, RFI was negatively correlated with carcass yield (-0.18 ± 0.14) and muscle content (-0.47 ± 0.14) and positively with fat content (0.48 ± 0.13). Conversely, RG and FE were positively correlated with carcass yield and muscle content and negatively with fat content. For the three FE criteria, efficient animals had leaner carcass. For visceral organs (as a proportion of empty body weight), RFI was genetically correlated with the proportions of the 5th quarter (0.51 ± 0.17), internal fat (0.36 ± 0.14), abomasum (0.46 ± 0.20), intestines (0.38 ± 0.17), liver (0.36 ± 0.16), and kidneys (0.73 ± 0.11). Conversely, RG and FE were negatively associated with these traits. The high-energy expenditure associated with the high-protein turnover in visceral organs may explain this opposite relationship between FE and the proportion of visceral organs. Selection for final weight and RFI increased growth and FE in progeny, and also improved carcass yield and muscle content in the carcass. To conclude, determinations of growth and feed intake in performance test stations are effective to select bulls to improve their growth, FE, and muscle content in carcass.