Objective This study compared and analyzed the production performance of meat-type Xinjiang Brown Cattle and Simmental beef cattle to clarify the differences in body measurements, slaughter performance and meat-producing traits between the two breeds.
Methods Under unified feeding and management conditions, the body measurements, carcass indicators and weights of segmented meat cuts of bulls from the two groups were measured. The proportion of each cut weight relative to carcass weight was calculated, and one-way analysis of variance was adopted to compare trait differences between breeds.
Results The dressing percentage and net meat percentage of meat-type Xinjiang Brown Cattle were 0.28% and 1.56% higher than those of Simmental beef cattle, with no significant difference between breeds (P>0.05). The backfat thickness of meat-type Xinjiang Brown Cattle was 1.69 cm, which was extremely significantly higher than that of Simmental beef cattle (0.24 cm) (P<0.01). The meat-bone ratio and muzzle width of meat-type Xinjiang Brown Cattle were both extremely significantly greater than those of Simmental beef cattle (P<0.01); meanwhile, its loin thickness was 3.02 cm thicker, showing an extremely significant difference (P<0.01). The weights of abomasum, small intestine and liver of meat-type Xinjiang Brown Cattle were all higher than those of Simmental beef cattle, but the differences were not significant (P>0.05).
Conclusion Meat-type Xinjiang Brown Cattle have breed advantages in traits including slanting body length, abdominal circumference, dressing percentage, net meat percentage, meat-bone ratio, backfat thickness and loin thickness. This breed features medium body size, outstanding meat production capacity, strong roughage tolerance and high efficiency of fat deposition and utilization. As a meat-type cattle breed independently bred in China, meat-type Xinjiang Brown Cattle exhibits excellent comprehensive meat production performance.
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