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The present experiment was conducted to characterize the influence of maternal genetics on tenderness and fresh meat quality of the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM). Three sets of littermate barrows and gilts, sired by a single Berkshire boar (n = 4 Berkshire × Berkshire female, BB; n = 5 Berkshire × Landrace female, BL; and n = 5 Berkshire × Saddleback/Berkshire female, BS) were reared in a common contemporary group to a target BW of 105 kg, transported to The Ohio State University Meat Science Laboratory abattoir, and rested for 15 h with free access to water prior to harvest. At 24 h post harvest, backfat depth (BF), loin muscle area (LMA) and loin quality measurements (ultimate pH, visual marbling, wetness, firmness and color, and objective Minolta L*, a*, and b*) were measured on the 10th- and 11th-rib loin surface .A loin section, posterior to the 10th and 1lth rib carcass split, was removed from the right side of the carcass at 24 h post harvest, aged for 7 d and used to measure LM Warner-Bratzler shear force (WBSF) and intramuscular fat (IMF) content. Maternal line had no effect (P > 0.10) on BF, LMA, visual marbling, firmness and color, L*, a*, b* values or IMF; however, maternal line did influence WBSF (P < 0.01), whereby BB and BL genetic lines produced LM with lesser, more desirable WBSF when compared with LM from BL pigs, with a trend for . with greater pH improved LM firmness. Electrophoretic profiles of the myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic protein fractions identified banding pattern variation that may explain variation in WBSF across the genetic lines. The results from the present study suggest that maternal genetic lines containing Berkshire and Berkshire/Saddleback breeds produced carcasses with similar composition as the Landrace maternal line and, in addition, provided a pork product (LM) with greater water-holding capacity (greater pH) and improved tenderness (WBSF).