ANÁLISE DAS INTERRELAÇÕES ENTRE MACIEZ DA CARNE E CARACTERÍSTICAS DE CARCAÇA E CRESCIMENTO EM BOVINOS DA RAÇA NELORE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationships between meat tenderness (WBSF), carcass (rib eye area (REA), backfat thickness (BF), rump fat thickness (RF)) and growth (weight at 120 (W120), 210 (W210), 365 (W365) and 450 (W450) days of age; average daily gain (ADG)) traits in Nellore cattle, using the principal components analysis. The data set is from 654 Nellore animals, born between 2006 and 2015. The WBSF was used to form three groups: low, medium and high WBSF. Principal components analysis was performed between the WBSF classifications, with R program. The first three components explained 74.70% of the total variation. However, the third component has an eigenvalue less than 1 (λ?> 1), so that the first two components effectively summarize the total variance. The variables BF, RF, REA and ADG were the closest to WBSF, attributed both to the selection by which the herd is submitted and the influence of BF on the expression of meat tenderness.