Abstract:

Sixteen China Red Steppes and sixteen China Red Steppes crossbred with
Limousin were fed and fattened under same nutrition and feeding conditions for ten months.It was studied that growth velocity, meat performance,and the meat quality including tenderness,area of loin eye muscle,and marbling of these cattles after they had been fattened and abataged. The results showed that the body height,stem length,across chest,marketing weight,body weight gain,dressing percentages,and meat percentages of the crossbreds were higher significantly than those of China Red Steppes(P<0.01 or P<0.05).The area of loin eye muscle of the crossbreds was improved 8.39% than that of China Red Steppes.The enderness and marbling of the crossbreds were higher slightly than those of China Red Steppes.But there were no significant different among those items(P>0.05). This experiment showed that the effect of improve of meat performance of China Red Steppe by crossb reeding with Limousin was very significant.The crossbreeding did not affect meat quality of China Red Steppe.The China Red Steppe had still retained its specific property of preeminent meat quality.

Key words: crossbreeding; meat quality; meat performance; China Red Steppe; Limousin