Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2010
Thirty-seven Blackface wether sheep, ranging from birth to eighteen months of age, were used to derive the allometric relationship between carcass muscle and carcass bone.
The equation
log10 muscle (g) = 1·36 log10 bone (g)—0·804
fitted the data well. (r = 0·995, b = 1·36±0·05, Sy.x = 0·0595.)
The deviations from this equation had a coefficient of variation of 14% indicating that other factors may influence the relationship of muscle to bone.
It is suggested that the variable
log10M—1·36 log10 5 + 0·804
is independent of differences due to different stages of natural development and can be used to examine the effects of different treatments on the muscle: bone ratio. The constant applies to sheep only.