Table 8. Effect of energy feeding levels on carcass characteristics in Holstein steers

Item	22 month		24 month		SEM	p-value¹⁾
Item	T1²⁾	T2	T3	T4	SEM	p-value¹⁾
Body weight
Market weight (kg)	754.57^b	794.64^ab	803.52^ab	820.31^a	20.15	0.0923
Cold carcass weight (kg)	417.13^b	444.12^ab	442.90^ab	458.72^a	8.57	0.0865
Carcass percentage (%)	55.28	55.89	55.12	55.92
Yield traits
Backfat thickness (mm)	6.87	7.72	7.31	8.01	0.83	0.1015
Longissimus muscle area (cm²)	78.21	80.21	81.14	82.12	2.88	0.6949
Yield grade (%)
A	10.00 (1)	10.00 (1)	ND	ND
B	80.00	70.00 (7)	90.00 (9)	90.00 (9)
C	10.00 (1)	20.00 (2)	10.00 (1)	10.00 (1)
Quality traits³⁾
Marbling score	2.61	2.96	2.81	3.01	0.44	0.1174
Meat color	4.34	4.47	4.67	5.01	0.19	0.1869
Fat color	2.51	2.51	2.56	2.53	0.03	0.1038
Texture	1.94	1.87	1.90	2.01	0.05	0.3872
Maturity	2.00	2.00	2.00	2.00	0.00	1.0000
Quality grade (%)
1+	ND	10.00 (1)	ND	10.00 (1)
1	10.00 (1)	10.00 (1)	20.00 (2)	10.00 (1)
2	60.00 (6)	60.00 (6)	60.00 (6)	70.00 (7)
3	30.00 (3)	20.00 (2)	20.00 (2)	10.00 (1)

Probability of the F test.
Each group were set to 70% (T1) and 72% (T2) during fattening phase and 74% (T3) and 76% (T4) for the finishing phase, respectively.
Marbling score: 9 = the most abundant, 1 = devoid; meat color: 7 = dark red, 1 = b right red; fat color: 7 = yellowish, 1 = white, texture: 3 = coarse, 1 = fine; maturit: 9 = mature, 1 = youthful.
Means in the same row with different superscripts are significantly (p < 0.05) different.
ND, not detected.