Reproduction and production traits in indigenous cattle

Abstract

Analysis of data on the production and reproduction traits of 270 Hariana, 151 Tharparkar and 222 Sahiwal cows maintained at the Government Livestock Farm, Hisar, revealed that the breed was a significant source of variation in calving interval, production trails excepl MY/CI, PWMY and persistency traits. The calving interval was minimum in Hariana and maximum in Sahiwal cows. Complete lactation yield of Sahiwal cows was significantly more than lhat of Hariana and Tharparkar cows. Sahiwal cows were significantly superior than the Hariana and Tharparkar cows in respect of lactation period and different measures of persistency. The parity significantly affected the calving interval and production performance. First lactation period was significantly longer than the second and third lactation periods. The effect of period of calving was significant for calving interval and for all the production traits except for MYPW. The age at first calving influenced significantly the calving interval, LMY, 300-day MY, PMY, MY /LL, MY/CI and lactation length. The study leads to the conclusion that the Sahiwal cows had better milk production
characteristics, the Hariana cows showed better calving interval and the Tharparkar cows were not significantly different from Hariana cows.