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