Khariar cattle-an indigenous germplasm of Nuapada in the undivided Kalahandi district of Orissa

Abstract

A study on performance of 837 Khariar cattle of Nuapada district of Orissa showed that these animals were short in height, have compact body, concave forehead, short head and long tail. The average body length, height at withers, height at group and chest girth were 106.84±0.44, 105.40±0.22, 103.15±0.20 and 130.41±0.87 cm in males and 94.49±0.20, 90.85±0.24, 89.12±0.24 and 115.44±0.40 cm in females. The adult body weight was 171.67±2.68 and 123.67±1.01 kg in males and females respectively. The average age at first calving, service service period and calving interval were 1540.99±4.29m 238.37±1.73, and 510.97±2.64 days. The cows yield on an average 980.17±22.79 ml of milk/day in a lactation length of 281.20±2.03 days with afat of 4.92%. The bullocks are major source of drought power for the resource poor tribal farmers. The load carrying capacity of a pair of bullocks was 1171.10±18.06 kg with a speed of 3367±68.21 m/h in plain pucca road and 2428.0±52.24 m/h in undulated kutcha road. The heritability estimates for production, reproduction and conformation traits were medium to high. Genetic and phenotypic correlations between different traits were also estimated.