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Huge livestock population of India is under threat by a large number of endemic infectious (bacterial, viral, and parasitic) diseases. These diseases are associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality, particularly in exotic and crossbred cattle. Beside morbidity and mortality, economic losses by these diseases occur through reduced fertility, production losses, etc. Some of the major infectious diseases which have great economic impact on Indian dairy industries are tuberculosis (TB), Johne’s disease (JD), mastitis, tick and tick-borne diseases (TTBDs), foot and mouth disease, etc. The development of effective strategies for the assessment and control of infectious diseases requires a better understanding of pathogen biology, host immune response, and diseases pathogenesis as well as the identification of the associated biomarkers. Indigenous cattle (Bos indicus) are reported to be comparatively less affected than exotic and crossbred cattle. However, genetic basis of resistance in indigenous cattle is not well documented. The association studies of few of the genes associated with various diseases, namely, solute carrier family 11 member 1, Toll-like receptors 1, with TB; Caspase associated recruitment domain 15, SP110 with JD; CACNA2D1, CD14 with mastitis and interferon gamma, BoLA­-DRB3.2 alleles with TTBDs, etc., are presented. Breeding for genetic resistance is one of the promising ways to control the infectious diseases. High host resistance is the most important method for controlling such diseases, but till today no breed is total immune. Therefore, work may be undertaken under the hypothesis that the different susceptibility to these diseases are exhibited by indigenous and crossbred cattle is due to breed-specific differences in the dealing of infected cells with other immune cells, which ultimately influence the immune response responded against infections. Achieving maximum resistance to these diseases is the ultimate goal, is technically possible to achieve, and is permanent. Progress could be enhanced through introgression of resistance genes to breeds with low resistance. The quest for knowledge of the genetic basis for infectious diseases in indigenous livestock is strongly warranted.

Data from Mehsana kids born during the period of 2006 to 2012, maintained at Sheep and Goat Research Station (SGRS), Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Gujarat, India, were used to evaluate the effect of various non-genetic factors on the different growth traits. The least squares means of body weights at birth, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months of age were 2.75 ± 0.03, 10.33 ± 0.16, 13.83 ± 0.23, 16.98 ± 0.35 and 20.44 ± 0.31 kg, respectively. The pre-weaning and post-weaning average daily weight gains were 84.75±1.82, and 35.58±0.92 g, respectively. Although year of birth was having highly significant (P < 0.01) effect on the different growth traits of kids but no concrete pattern could be observed. Season of birth (P < 0.05) and sex of kids (P < 0.01) had significant effect on all the growth traits studied. Both pre and post weaning average daily gains were significantly affected (P < 0.01) by all the non-genetic factors studied except the effect of sex on pre-weaning average daily gain. The heritability estimates of different growth traits under study were found to be moderate to high in magnitude. The phenotypic correlations among the growth traits ranged from low to high.

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Indiscriminate selection of animals in order to enhance milk production has led to less attention to other traits important in dairying, viz. reproduction; owing to negative association. The production and reproduction records of total 403 Kankrej cows maintained at Livestock Research Station, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Sardarkrushinagar, over a period of 35 years from 1979 to 2013, were analyzed to study the production and reproduction traits, viz. 305 day milk yield (305 MY), lactation length (LL), dry period (DP), age at first calving (AFC) and service period (SP). The data were used to investigate the effect of environmental factors as well as estimation of genetic parameters of production and reproduction traits. Genetic, phenotypic and environmental trends were estimated to assess the breeding programme undergoing in the Kankrej herd over the years. The average performance of traits under study was obtained as 2128.64 kg, 282.60 days, 146.13 days, 1366.90 days and 158.06 days for 305 MY, LL, DP, AFC and SP, respectively. The heritability estimates obtained for these traits were 0.31, 0.17, 0.16, 0.05 and 0.96 for 305 MY, LL, DP, SP and AFC respectively. The estimated phenotypic and genetic trends were 7.66 and 23.10 Kg for 305 MY, –0.007 and –0.61 days for LL, 0.022, and –0.032 days for DP, –4.53 and –11.89 days for AFC and –0.07 and –1.61 days for SP, respectively. The results revealed that great improvement in Kankrej herd has been achieved in last 35 years. However, there is further scope of genetic improvement. Designed genetic programme has had great impact on improvement of milk production and AFC but very less impact on the reproductive traits.

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