Effects of non-genetic factors on age at first conception and calving interval in Holstein cattle under subtropical conditions

TAHIR USMAN; SYED MUHAMMAD SUHAIL; XU ZHANG; GANG GUO; IHSAN ULLAH; UMMER SADIQUE; YACHUN WANG

doi:10.56093/ijans.v84i1.37306

Authors

TAHIR USMAN China Agricultural University, Beijing 10093 China
SYED MUHAMMAD SUHAIL China Agricultural University, Beijing 10093 China
XU ZHANG China Agricultural University, Beijing 10093 China
GANG GUO China Agricultural University, Beijing 10093 China
IHSAN ULLAH Agricultural University Peshawar, Pakistan
UMMER SADIQUE China Agricultural University, Beijing 10093 China
YACHUN WANG China Agricultural University, Beijing 10093 China

https://doi.org/10.56093/ijans.v84i1.37306

Keywords:

Age at first conception, Calving interval, Holstein, Subtropical conditions

Abstract

Fertility is a major trait and key factor to profitable dairy farming but at the same time often a limiting element in attempts to increase the milk production. Data on 517 lactation records of Holstein cattle maintained at Agricultural University Peshawar Dairy Farm in Pakistan from the period 1999 to 2010 were studied. The effect of various non- genetic factors i.e. sire, parity, season year of birth/calving on age at first conception (AFC) and calving interval (CI) were investigated using fixed effect model by GLM procedure of SAS 9.1. The effect of sire and season year of birth was highly significant (P<0.01) on AFC, whereas, highly significant effect of parity (P<0.01) and significant (P<0.05) effect of season year of calving on CI was observed. Mean AFC and CI were 709.9±71.9 days and 425.3±97.7 days, respectively. Under subtropical conditions the focus is always on milk performance while reproduction is often overlooked, due to which reproductive traits were found considerably inferior to those of temperate conditions. Even under subtropical conditions improvement trends were observed across years for both the traits. Therefore, managerial interventions supplemented by improved genetic potential are proposed to optimize these important reproductive traits.

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