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Chinese Livestock and Poultry Breeding ›› 2026, Vol. 22 ›› Issue (8): 19-31.doi: 10.19543/j.cnki.1673-4556.20260709.001cstr: 32418.14.j.cnki.1673-4556.20260709.001

• Genetic Improvement • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Progress and prospects for genetic improvement of beef cattle in China: The pathway to revitalizing the seed industry from "catching up" to "innovation"

Xiaoyao Cao1,3,5(), Jiao Li2, Ting Wang1,3, Lanling Xiong1,3, Xiangting Cai4, Siyuan Feng4, Zezhao Wang1,3, Caihong Zheng1, Yan Chen1, Lupei Zhang1, Xue Gao1, Huijiang Gao1,3, Bo Zhu1,3,4(), Junya Li1,3,4()   

  1. 1. The Institute of Animal Sciences, CAAS, Beijing, 100193
    2. National Animal Husbandry Station, Beijing, 100125
    3. National Center of Beef Cattle Genetic Evaluation, Beijing, 100193
    4. Northern Agriculture and Livestock Husbandry Technology Innovation Center of CAAS, Hohhot, 010111, Inner Mongolia
    5. Yanbian University, Yanji, 133000, Jilin
  • Received:2026-04-07 Online:2026-08-26 Published:2026-07-31
  • Contact: Bo Zhu, Junya Li E-mail:cxy1163899369@163.com;zhubo@caas.com;lijunya@caas.cn

Abstract:

The beef cattle industry is an important component of modern agriculture and livestock seed industry, and is closely associated with beef supply security, consumption upgrading, and rural industrial revitalization. Genetic improvement is a fundamental approach for improving production efficiency, beef quality, and seed industry competitiveness. Based on recent research progress and industrial practices in China, this review systematically summarizes the major advances in beef cattle genetic improvement from the perspectives of genetic resource conservation and evaluation, continuous selection of indigenous breeds, crossbreeding innovation and development of new breeds or lines, application of molecular breeding technologies, and construction of modern breeding systems. Overall, China has established a relatively rich foundation for cattle genetic resource conservation, and indigenous yellow cattle breeds show important value in meat quality, environmental adaptation, and stress resistance. Continuous selection of representative local breeds, including Qinchuan, Nanyang, Luxi, and Yanbian cattle, has achieved measurable progress, while independently developed breeds such as Xia'nan, Yanhuang, Liaoyu White, and Huaxi cattle have gradually strengthened domestic germplasm supply. Meanwhile, genomic selection, multi-omics integration, molecular marker discovery, and intelligent breeding decision-making are accelerating their transition from research to practical breeding. A modern beef cattle breeding framework supported by core breeding farms, bull stations, and national genetic evaluation systems has also been preliminarily established. However, several limitations remain, including insufficient continuous innovation of elite germplasm, inadequate accumulation of high-quality phenotypic data, incomplete multi-trait selection systems, weak coordination among breeding entities, and limited efficiency of technology transfer. Future efforts should focus on high-quality phenotypic and genotypic data accumulation, integration of genomic and multi-omics information, independent creation of elite germplasm, improvement of industry–university–research collaboration mechanisms, and construction of a national beef cattle breeding big data platform. These efforts will help improve the efficiency of beef cattle genetic improvement and support the revitalization of China's beef cattle seed industry.

Key words: Beef cattle, Genetic improvement, Germplasm resources, Genomic selection, Breeding system, Seed industry revitalization

CLC Number: 

  • S823

Table 1

Key data of China's cattle genetic resources conservation system in 2024"

序号NO. 指标Indicator 数值Value 说明Explanation
1 国家牛活体保种场 23个 活体保护基础
2 国家级保护区 2个 原产地保护
3 活体保种群存栏量 12314头 资源活体保存规模
4 国家家畜基因库牛品种数 117个 长期遗传材料保存
5 保存遗传材料总量 22.4万份 含精液、胚胎、体细胞
6 国家家养动物种质资源库牛品种数 78个 血样、组织样等系统保存
7 保存遗传物质总量 6.1万份 异地保存补充
8 2024年新增牛遗传资源 4个 天台牛等

Table 2

Key meat-quality indicators of selected local and introduced cattle breeds"

项目

Items

品种

Variety

肌内脂肪含量

Intramuscular fat content/%

剪切力

Shear force

主要脂肪酸特点

Main fatty acid characteristics

风味物质前体

Flavor substance precursors

引进品种

Introduced variety

日本和牛[23] 16.92 ± 1.08 很低 单不饱和脂肪酸极高 氨基酸丰富
安格斯牛[24] 4.1~13.3 单不饱和脂肪酸高 谷氨酸含量较高
西门塔尔牛[25] 7.42 中等偏低 多不饱和脂肪酸相对较高 肌苷酸含量较高
利木赞牛[26] 1.7 ± 0.37 较高 饱和脂肪酸比例相对较高 数据较少,通常风味较淡

地方品种

Local variety

秦川牛[23] 13.38 ± 1.08 中等偏低 多不饱和脂肪酸/饱和脂肪酸比例良好 风味氨基酸种类丰富
南阳牛[23] 12.35 ± 1.22 中等 脂肪酸组成均衡 肌苷酸含量较高
鲁西牛[27] 14.75~20.80 中等偏低 部分优质个体大理石花纹较好,脂肪酸组成优良 风味前体物质沉积较好
延边牛[28] 9~16 中等 耐寒品种,脂肪沉积能力受季节影响 风味独特
蒙古牛[19] - 较高 多不饱和脂肪酸比例可能较高,但总脂肪少 风味独特

Fig. 1

Pathways for genetic improvement and breed development in Chinese beef cattle Note: The diagram is drawn using the Processon (https://www.processon.com/). The following picture is the same."

Fig. 2

Comparison of traditional breeding and genomic selection process and generation interval"

Table 3

Key scale indicators of cattle breeding and supply system in China in 2024"

序号NO. 指标Indicator 数值Value
1 种肉牛场 311家
2 年末存栏量 34.6万头
3 种公牛站 51家
4 肉用种公牛(含乳肉兼用牛) 7515头
5 其中采精公牛 3340头
6 肉牛核心育种场 53家
7 核心种公牛站 5家
8 年生产肉牛冷冻精液 5069.6万剂
9 核心种公牛站年生产肉牛冷冻精液 1086.2万剂
10 核心站市场份额 34%

Fig. 3

Conceptual diagram of a future intelligent beef cattle breeding system"

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