Genetic and environmental causes of variation in gestation length of Jersey crossbred cattle

Abstract

Aim:The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of genetic and non-genetic factors and estimate the genetic parameter for gestation length (GL) of Jersey crossbred cattle.Materials and Methods:The data included the 986 parturition records on Jersey crossbred cattle maintained at the Eastern Regional Station of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Kalyani, West Bengal, India during 36 years (1978-2013). The data were analyzed applying mixed model least square technique considering the fixed effects of genetic group, season of calving, period of calving, parity of animal, birth weight, and sex of calf born from animal. The effect of sire was included as a random effect in the model.Results:The genetic group of animal, season of calving, parity of animal, and birth weight of calf born were found to be a significant source of variation in the GL, whereas the period of calving and sex of calf did not affect this trait. Cows with <50% and >62.5% Jersey inheritance had the shortest and longest GLs, respectively. Cows calved in summer and rainy season had shorter GL than those calved in the winter season. Older cows in 4th parity carried calves for longer days than the cows in 1st parity. The increase in calf birth weight significantly (p<0.01) contributed to a linear increase in GL value in this study. The heritability estimate of GL was 0.24±0.08.Conclusion:It can be concluded that selection for lower GL without distressing future growth of calf can be used to reduce calving difficulty, but a very small standard deviation of GL limits the benefit. Moreover, more accurate prediction of calving date will help in better management and health care of pregnant animals.

Gestation Length and Age at First Calving of Crossbred Cows in Cameroon

“…These low gestation lengths assessed with crossed cattle could be attributed to the presence of exotic blood. However, these gestation periods were similar to the results of Kouamo et al, (2014) with Holstein crossed in the Thiès region of Senegal and Kumar et al, in 2016 with Jersey crossed cows in India.…”

“…Genetic groups with 50% of Holstein exotic blood had the shortest GL, while the longest with 87.5% of Jersey exotic blood. These results were comparable to Bahmani et al, (2011) and Kumar et al, in 2016 who reported the lowest GL with cows having 25% exotic blood, whereas the highest value was related to ˃62.5% and ≥75% exotic genes inheritance group of cows.…”

“…The present study revealed no statistical effect of calf's sex on GL in different genetic crossed groups., although male calves were carried in utero approximately 1 to 6 days longer by dams than their female counterparts. Melaku et al, (2011), Kouamo et al, (2014) and Kumar et al, (2016) noticed similar non-significant effects of sex of calf on GL. However, several published reports (Messine et al, 2007;Menon et al, 2014) were in disagreement with the present study, and showed that sex of calf significantly affected GL, with male calves gestated 1-3 days longer than females.…”

Effect of prepartum exercise on lying behavior, labor length, and cortisol concentrations

“…(For information on disorders of parturition among other species, see Noakes et al, 2001. ) Although strategies exist to alter pelvic area (Benyshek and Little, 1982;Morrison et al, 1986) and fetal size among cattle (Grosz and MacNeil, 2001;Kumar et al, 2016;Maschurek et al, 2018), no strategies are currently employed in dairy management to improve uterine expulsive forces. Exercise offers a potential means to address this deficiency in managing dairy cows around the calving period, as exercise is often used in human prepartum care to ameliorate this condition.…”

Evaluation of gestation length and birth weight of offspring of Polish native cattle breeds in context of estimating genetic parameters

“…This is why it is important to monitor not only main production or functional traits, but other traits that have never been selected for before, but still influence health status or reproduction, as well. Gestation length is one of those physiological traits influencing reproduction and characteristic of a given population (Goyache et al 2002;Coffey et al 2006;Kumar et al 2016).…”