Exterior and constitutional characteristics and chemical composition of horse meat of the Uldurginskaya breed

The development of horse herd farming with increase in number of meat horses, exclusively adapted to the conditions of year-round grazing, is an urgent problem of animal husbandry. Russian Research Institute of Horse Breeding in collaboration with the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "Russian Research Institute of Horse Breeding" bred Uldurginskaya horse. They crossbred Buryat horses with stallions of Russian draft horse, Russian trotter and Transbaikalian horse to increase productivity and reproductive qualities of animals. The aim of the present research was to study the exterior and constitutional characteristics and meat productivity of young horses, depending on breed. Experimental studies were conducted in conditions of breeding farms of Agricultural Production Cooperative "Uldurga" and OOO "Domna" (Yeravninskiy district, Republic of Buryatia), the composition of meat raw materials was studied in the laboratory of Center for Collective Use "Progress", ESSUTM. The analysis of exterior and constitutional features of new breed specimen indicates that they differ in strong bones and distinct meat forms, which is confirmed with body mass index. There was significant increase in body weight of young Uldurginskaya breed compared to Buryat one: at 6 months by 51.6 kg, at 18 months by 45.7 kg, at 30 months by 51.9 kg. Studies of chemical composition of muscle tissue have shown higher protein content (by 6.4-9.3 %) in meat of Uldurginskaya breed.