Comparative studies on role of micro environmental factors onlactation length of Deoni cattle in their breeding areas

Abstract

In the present study pedigree records maintained at Cattle Cross Breeding Project, VNMKV, Parbhani (Maharashtra) for the period of 1995-2010 were utilized to study correlation of lactation length and climatic factors. The climatic parameters considered were temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity, sunshine hours and dry and wet bulb temperature along with THI. The data on monthly lactation length of cows calved during cold, hot, south-west monsoon and post monsoon seasons were considered. Correlation and multiple regression analysis was used to investigate various sources of variation in monthly lactation length. Monthly lactation length data were analyzed to ascertain the effect of climatic attributes and to know their association with lactation lengths. The average monthly lactation length was recorded as 220.21 + 6.75 days in Deoni cattle. It can be inferred that maximum lactation length was recorded during post monsoon season (240.94 + 11.26 days) followed by south-west monsoon season (222.28 + 9.00 days), cold season (218.67 + 8.25 days) and hot season (198.95 + 10.71 days), respectively.