Slaughter qualities of Angus and brown Swiss cattle at pure breeding and crossing
Data on beef productivity of Angus and Brown Swiss cattle and crosses of these breeds obtained in order to increase the production of beef are presented. In order to study slaughter qualities, a control slaughter was carried out, based on it morphological composition of carcasses was studied, carcasses were cut for meat cuts and carcass and hip were measured according to generally accepted methods. It was found that the Angus calves advanced over brown Swiss animals by 44.0 (P≤0.01) and 41.4 (P≤0.001) kg, respectively, over half-blooded crosses - by 21.8 and 20.6 kg (P≤0.01). Angus advanced over animals of other groups in slaughter weight and slaughter yield: crosses - by 20.4 kg (P≤0.01) and 1.6 % (P≤0.05), respectively, brown Swiss - by 39.3 kg (P≤0.01) and 3.0 % (P≤0.05). A higher content of flesh in carcasses and a lower concentration of bones ensured the superiority of the Angus in terms of meat ratio, which, compared to the bulls of the combined direction, was higher on average by 1.3 units. (P≤0.001), and the ratio of edible and inedible parts - by 1.2 units, which was ensured due to the lower yield of cartilage and tendons at the maximum pulp output. Cutting carcasses into cuts showed superiority of Angus bulls in the absolute weight of each cut, but this did not ensure their superiority in relative yield, with the exception of the hip cut - one of the most valuable in culinary terms, the advantage over other groups of animals of the same age varied within 2.2-5.1 %, and in absolute weight - 12.7-25.9 kg (P≤0.01-0.001). In terms of their values, youngsters approached the purebred animals of the Angus breed.