Growth energy and quality of beef from bulls of Maine-Anjou, Chianina, and Santa Gertrudis breeds grown in Ukraine

Abstract

Zonal genotypes have already been created using imported breeds to increase the number of meat cattle in Ukraine, but not enough studies related to the specific features of breeding and feeding imported genotypes in the Steppe zone of Ukraine have been conducted, which is relevant. The purpose of the study is to examine the productive and slaughter indicators of bulls of imported meat breeds of various ecological and genetic origins in the climatic conditions of the steppe zone of Ukraine. Zootechnical, morphometric, biometric, and statistical methods were used in the research. The results of an analysis of the meat productivity of bulls of imported meat breeds of Maine-Anjou, Chianina, and Santa Gertrudis in the age aspect in the conditions of the steppe of the Dnieper region of Ukraine are presented. It was identified that when slaughtering experimental animals at the age of 18 months, the mass of paired carcasses of Maine-Anjou and Chianina was quite high and amounted to 324.2 and 311.3 kg, respectively, and the Santa Gertrudis – 233.3 kg, which is 1.39 and 1.33 times less than the young animals of Maine-Anjou and Chianina, respectively. It is proved that to use livestock more efficiently and obtain high-quality beef to improve the supply of meat to the population, it is advisable to grow them up to 18-24 months of age. Maine-Anjou animals dominate in terms of growth energy, age of reaching live weight during key growing periods, and feed conversion. In addition, due to the pronounced massiveness and habit of the body, have a larger carcass mass, the amount of internal fat, offal, as a result of which, the slaughter yield is higher. Based on the conducted studies, the possibility of effective breeding of Maine-Anjou bulls up to 12 months of age is proved, since during this period they reach a live weight of 400 kg and are characterised by the high production rate of lean beef, and for Chianina breed – up to 18 months of age and bigger weight conditions