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The heritability of quality traits (chemical composition, colour, tenderness and water-holding capacity) of the meat deriving<br />from three muscles (Triceps brachii, Longissimus dorsi and Semitendinosus) was evaluated in 92 young Chianina<br />bulls. The animals were raised on two farms with different feeding programs, and were slaughtered at approximately 19<br />months of age. Single pair correlations were considered in order to evidence the relationships between the same traits<br />detected in the three muscles and between all the traits of the same muscle.<br />The h2 values range from 0.00 to 0.24 for the chemical composition, from 0.00 to 0.19 for colour parameters, from 0.03<br />to 0.31 for those observed after 48 h, and from 0.00 to 0.08 for tenderness and water-holding capacity. The values were<br />not homogeneous for the three muscles. The most heritable trait was yellowness (b*48) in all three muscles, with values<br />of 0.11 in the Longissimus dorsi, 0.23 in the Semitendinosus, and 0.31 in the Triceps brachii. Conversely, tenderness<br />appeared to have a low heritability, as did the parameters relating to the water-holding capacity. Colour traits<br />observed before and after 48 h of storage generally were significantly and positively correlated, indicating that certain<br />colour characteristics are maintained even after 48 h of storage. There was not always a close relationship between the<br />traits of each muscles: significant correlations existed between the Triceps brachii and the Longissimus dorsi muscles,<br />confirming the similar quality traits of their meat, while there were considerable differences between these muscles and<br />the Semitendinosus.