Reproductive performance of indigenous and HF crossbred dairy cows in Gondar, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted on altogether 411 milch animals comprising of 172 indigenous and 239 Holstein-Friesian (HF) crossbred cows maintained under farmer's managemental system in and around Gondar (Ethiopia). Collected data were analyzed according to Least Squares Analysis to study the magnitude as well as direction of variation in their days open (DO), calving interval (CI) and number of services per conception (NSC) due to genetic and some non-genetic factors. The overall Least Squares Means for DO, CI and NSC were estimated to be 116.5242.51 days, 439.0366.34 days and 1.80.3 respectively. The genetic constitution of the animals influenced DO, CI and NSC significantly (P<0.01). Location of herd had also significant (P<0.05) effect on DO, CI and NSC. Lactation order had significant (P<0.01) effect on CI and NSC. Its effect on DO was also found to be significant (P<0.05). Variations in all the traits due to herd-size, season of calving and farming system were statistically non-significant.

Productive and Reproductive Performance of Local Cows under Farmer’s Management in and around Mekelle, Ethiopia

“…The NSC revealed in the present study was close to 2.2±0.2 in local cows of Gondar city of Ethiopia [14]. Lower mean AFC is reported to be 1.6 ± 0.6 in Boran cows at Tatesa cattle breeding center in Gurage Zone, central Ethiopia [9].…”

Socio-economic characteristics of dairy production in the selected areas of Ethiopian central highlands

“…However, a higher average SPC (2.8) was reported in Harar milk-shed (Mohammed and deWaal, 2009). Feed shortage and poor reproductive management such as lack of proper heat detection and timely insemination might have the most plausible explanation for difference in the number of SPC recorded across the country (Kumar et al, 2014).…”

Reproductive Performance of Crossbred Cattle under Intensive Management Condition

“…Two breeding strategies are available for genetic improvement of cattle i.e., selective breeding within the breed and crossbreeding among the breeds (Faleconer and Mackey, 1996). The government of Pakistan is encouraging the import of exotic breeds of dairy cattle with the objective that to rear them as pure breed and use for upgrade of the indigenous non-descriptive cattle in order to improve the reproductive and productive traits of indigenous cattle in the country (Kumar et al, 2014;Haque et al, 2011;Sandhu et al, 2011).…”

“…The crossbreeding is being applied in the country since 1970 by use of imported semen for Artificial Insemination or by importing breeding bulls of different exotic breeds. During last two decades efforts have been made to improve reproductive and productive efficiency of indigenous cattle (Red Sindhi and Sahiwal) breeds by crossing with exotic breeds through Artificial Insemination (Kumar et al, 2014;. The crossbreeding system offers genetic progress in various important traits that drive the dairy industry profitably (Haque et al, 2011) and provides better route to increase the production as much as 2-3 times more than the national average production (Choudhry et al, 1983;Chaudhry, 1992;James, 1993).…”

“…The reproductive and productive performance of indigenous cattle breed is relatively lower, due to un-exploited genotype and poor nutrition (Ali et al, 2014;Kumar et al, 2014;Boby et al, 2013;Haque et al, 2011). The indigenous breeds of cattle have strong disease resistance and are able to thrive best in extreme climatic conditions, whereas exotic breeds have problems of less tick resistance and susceptible to various contagious diseases (Islam and Bhuihyan, 1997).…”