Comparison of carcass characteristics and meat quality between Simmental crossbred cattle, cattle‐yaks and Xuanhan yellow cattle

BACKGROUND The study compared the growth performance, carcass characteristics and meat quality of steers of Xuanhan yellow cattle, Simmental crossbreed cattle (Simmental × Xuanhan yellow cattle) and cattle‐yak (Jersey × yak). All steers were feed with the same diet from 6 months until slaughter at 30 months. The longissimus dorsi muscle was used to compare the meat quality traits. RESULTS By comparison, Simmental crossbreed cattle had higher growth performance ( P  < 0.05) and carcass characteristics ( P  < 0.05); cattle‐yak had higher value of a *, b * of meat color ( P  < 0.05) and higher protein contents of meat ( P  < 0.05); Xuanhan yellow cattle had higher water holding capacity ( P  < 0.05) and lower shear force ( P  < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The results show that Simmental crossbred cattle had better meat performance and provided low‐fat meat with a beneficial fatty acid composition, but with lower meat quality; cattle‐yaks provided greater meat color and higher protein content; Xuanhan yellow cattle provided meat with preferable tenderness. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry