Phenotypic, Genetic and Environmental Trends of Milk Production Traits in Karan Fries Cattle

Abstract

First lactation records of 643 Karan Fries (KF) cattle sired by 77 bulls maintained at the NDRI herd during 1992-2009 were used to estimate phenotypic and genetic trends of first lactation traits viz. 305 days milk yield (FL305MY), total milk yield (FLTMY) and lactation length (FLL). The phenotypic trends were estimated as 20.74 ± 6.08 kg (0.64 percent of herd average), 34.04 ± 8.62 kg (0.90 percent of herd average) and 1.02 ± 0.65 days (0.28 percent of herd average) for FL305MY, FLTMY and FLL respectively. The estimated genetic trends were using BLUP 4.85 ± 5.62 kg (0.15 percent of herd average), 3.44 ± 2.60 kg (0.09 percent of herd average) and 0.58 ± 0.24 days (0.16 percent of herd average) for FL305MY, FLTMY and FLL respectively. The estimated environmental trends were 15.89 ± 8.27 kg, 30.6 ± 9.00 kg and 0.44 ± 0.69 days FL305MY, FLTMY and FLL respectively. It was inferred that there has been genetic improvement in the milk production traits in the desirable direction over the years.