To establish the measures that best define thequality of the carcass of swine, data of lean meat yield (MY), fat yield (FY),dressing percentage (DP), carcass length for the Brazilian Method of CarcassClassification (CLBM), carcass length for the American Method of Carcass Classification(CLAM), average backfat thickness (ABT), backfat thickness 4 cm from the dorsalmid-line (P1), backfat thickness 6.5 cm from the dorsal mid-line(P2), backfat thickness 8 cm from the dorsal mid-line (P3),loin eye area (LEA), lean:fat ratio (LFR) and ham yield (HY) were used, obtainedin 664 Large White swine. Initially, in order to make clear the importance andpossible relations structures among variables, the cluster analysis was used.Afterwards, the multiple regression linear model was used, using the SAS package.Firstly, it was estimated the partial correlation (Type II) of each trait toevaluate the importance of the quality variables of the carcass. Secondly, aprocedure of adjusting equation selection named Backward was used. It was verifiedthat, except for DP, all the measures of carcass classification evaluated presentedcorrelation with MY and FY. The measures ABT, P1, P2,P3 and LFT were inversely correlated with MY and directly correlatedwith FY. The opposite was observed for the measures CLBM, CLAM, LEA and HY.ABT, AOL, RCG and RP are just enough to evaluate the quality of the carcassin terms of lean meat yield, and, in terms of FY, besides these measured previousit's necessary the evaluation of P1. The measures of loin eye areaand average backfat thickness, as proposed by MBCC, shown as being what bestevaluates the amount of meat and fat in the carcass.
