How to add/remove browser specific JS and CSS in Magento2 using layout xml
Within your own default_head_blocks.xml file do the following:
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
<head>
<remove src="name.css"/>
</head>
</page>
http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/frontend-dev-guide/layouts/xml-manage.html#layout_markup_css_remove
You can add browser specific css like below:
<page>
<head>
<css src="css/ie-9.css" ie_condition="IE 9" />
</head>
</page>
You can remove js and css like below:
<page xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:View/Layout/etc/page_configuration.xsd">
<head>
<!-- Remove local resources -->
<remove src="css/styles-m.css" />
<remove src="my-js.js"/>
<remove src="Magento_Catalog::js/compare.js" />
<!-- Remove external resources -->
<remove src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.4/css/bootstrap-theme.min.css"/>
<remove src="https://maxcdn.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.3.4/js/bootstrap.min.js"/>
<remove src="http://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Montserrat" />
</head>
Please, refer official document : http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/frontend-dev-guide/layouts/xml-manage.html#layout_markup_css
There is no way to do this in in layout.xml. Here is a list of layout instructions available in Magento 2
http://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.0/frontend-dev-guide/layouts/xml-instructions.html
If browser compatibility is what you are aiming for, you should take advantage of the modrnizr.js library that comes included in core magento (lib/web/modernizr/modernizr.js)