Bos Taurus Taurus vs Bos Indicus Taurus – meat quality and efficacy
Most domestic cattle breeds fall into Bos taurus taurus or Bos indicus taurus characteristics. Bos Indicus breeds, also known as tropical breeds, are typically humped and are more widespread in tropical climates. The most common of these breeds are Zebu and Brahman cattle. It is believed that these breeds originated from India and then migrated to Africa, China, and other regions. They are considered to have improved disease resistance, heat tolerance, and low production traits. Production traits are heritable traits that affect an animal’s ability to produce meat and milk from the feed it eats. If an animal has low production traits, its genetic disposition is to produce less milk or beef than other breeds. Bos Indicus breeds have been found to have lower reproduction traits compared to Bos indicus. Some of these traits are delayed age at puberty; higher circulating concentrations of hormones such as estradiol, progesterone, insulin, and IGF-I, despite having smaller ovulatory follicle size and corpora lutea; a greater population of small follicles, and smaller size of the dominant follicle at deviation; and greater sensitivity. of follicles to gonadotropins.
Bos Taurus breeds also known as continental breeds or non-humped are known to have higher quality grades. Some of these breeds are commonly known as red and black Angus, Simmental, Charolais, and Herefords. Typically these breeds feed out faster, produce higher quality meat, and thrive in cooler climates. These breeds are thought to be descended from the European Aurochs. They are the most common breeds found in commercial cattle herds. This is because they have high production and reproduction traits. It doesn’t take as long to reach maturity and carcass size at slaughter is typically bigger than Bos indicus.
Reproductive traits are a subsection of production traits. are important for commercial animals. Commercial cattle are used for beef and milk. Cows are used to produce calves that will be raised for slaughter in the beef industry while cows are used products in the milk industry. Due to the low reproductive traits listed above for Bos indicus breeds, they are not typically used in high-production systems in cooler environments. Bos indicus is superior when it comes to heat tolerance and parasite resistance. In the tropical areas production in Bos taurus decreases as their body tries to tolerate the heat. These are attributes that are important for producers with climate change and the many places becoming hotter. One solution is to cross-breed between these two types. This increases disease and heat tolerance in the next generation. However, it decreases overall carcass and milk yield. Santa Gertrudis is a cross breed that is five eights short horn and three eights brahman. This breed has a good combination of all the production and reproduction traits. It is not superior in any way but it does have better heat tolerance and parasite resistance than normal Bos taurus breeds and higher carcass yields than Bos indicus.
Additional resources
Bressan, M. C., Rodrigues, E. C., Rossato, L. V., Neto-Fonseca, I., Alves, S. P., Bessa, R. J., & Gama, L. T. (2020). Discrimination of meat produced by bos taurus and bos indicus finished under an intensive or extensive system. Animals, 10(10), 1737.