ABSTRACT. Key words: Genetic parameters, Holstein Friesian x Sahiwal, Most Probable Producing Ability, Production traits, Season of calving

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1 GENETIC ANALYSIS OF THE PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF FRIESWAL CATTLE * B. Shubha Lakshmi, B. Ramesh Gupta, M. Gnana Prakash, K. Sudhakar 1 and Lt. Col. Susheel Sharma 2 Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding College of Veterinary Science, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad ABSTRACT The data on 2393 lactations of various grades (6/16, 7/16, 10/16, 12/16, 14/16, 15/16 and 9/16 to 12/16) of Holstein Friesian x Sahiwal cows maintained at the Military Dariy Farm, Bowenpally, Secunderabad from 1988 to 2006 were utilized. The overall leastsquares means for total lactation milk yield, 300-day lactation milk yield, lactation length, peak yield, milk yield per day of lactation and milk yield per day of calving interval were kg, kg, days, kg, 8.69 kg and 6.40 kg, respectively. Genetic grades, period and season of calving and parity significantly affected all the production traits studied except for the season of calving on lactation length. However, sex of calf had no significant influence on any of the production traits studied. The heritabilities and genetic and phenotypic and environmental correlations, repeatabilities and Most Probable Producing Ability (MPPA) of cows in Genetic grade 7 were estimated. Key words: Genetic parameters, Holstein Friesian x Sahiwal, Most Probable Producing Ability, Production traits, Season of calving INTRODUCTION Milk production is one of the most important economic traits in dairy cattle. Crossing zebu cattle (Bos indicus) with highly developed temperate cattle breeds (Bos taurus), undertaken for improving the milk production to meet the needs of ever increasing human population of India has led to the synthesis of several new crossbred strains of cattle. A cattle breeding project aimed at developing a national breed, using exotic Holstein- Friesian and indigenous Sahiwal cattle breeds, possessing an inheritance of about 62% Friesian and 38% Sahiwal, capable of producing 4000 kg milk with 4% butter fat in 300-days lactation period was launched in the year 1985 at Military Farm, Meerut to cater to the milk needs of military personnel and civilians. The key germ plasm unit located at Meerut Military Farm has 12 data recording farms spread all over the country and one of these farms is located at Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh. The project also aims at refinement of the cattle through rigorous * Forms part of the M.V.Sc. thesis submitted by the first author to Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati Dept. of Livestock Production and Management, 2 Military Farm, Bowenpally, Secunderabad 215

2 Genetic analysis of the production... selection to achieve uniformity in the physical characteristics and performance. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data on a total of 2393 lactations obtained from 1988 to 2006 at Military Farm, Secunderabad consisting of various grades of Holstein Friesian Sahiwal cows were utilized to study the influence of genetic grades, period and season of calving, parity and sex of calf on total lactation milk yield, 300- days lactation milk yield, lactation length, peak yield, milk yield per day of lactation and milk yield per day of calving interval by least-squares technique (Harvey, 1979). Genetic grades (G1 to G7) consisted of 6/16, 7/16, 10/16, 12/16, 14/16, 15/16 and Frieswal (9/16 to 12/16) Holstein Friesian Sahiwal crosses. The four periods of calving considered were , , and , while the three seasons classified were summer (March to June), rainy (July to October) and winter (November to February). Duncan s Multiple Range Test (DMRT), as modified by Kramer (1957) was employed for comparison of means. Genetic parameters were estimated by paternal half sib correlation method for all the traits in genetic grade 7, as per Becker (1985) based on the data adjusted for various nongenetic effects. The Most Probable Producing Ability (MPPA) of the cows of genetic grade 7 was estimated based on total lactation milk yield and 300-days lactation milk yield as per the formula of Lush (1945). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The overall least-squares means for total lactation milk yield, 300-days lactation milk yield, lactation length, peak yield, milk yield per day of lactation and milk yield per day of calving interval were kg, kg, days, kg, 8.69 kg and 6.40 kg, respectively (Table 1) and these means were in agreement with those reported by Raheja (1997) and Sharma and Singh (1999) in Holstein Friesian x Sahiwal cows. However, Mudgal et al. (1986) in Holstein Friesian Sahiwal cows and Murdia and Tripathi (1992) in Jersey cows and Kothekar (2004) in Holstein Friesian cows reported higher means and Tomar et al. (1997) in Sahiwal and Das et al. (2006) in Holstein Friesian cows reported lower means than those obtained in the present study, revealing the existing of variations in genetic make up of the cows. Effect of genetic grades Genetic grades significantly (P<0.01) influenced all the production traits studied (Table 1), revealing the significant differences in genetic constitution of the cows. The cows of G3 genetic grade (10/16) outperformed all the other grades by attaining the highest least-squares means for 300- day lactation milk yield ( kg), peak yield (14.81 kg), milk yield per day of lactation (9.50 kg) and milk yield per day of calving interval (7.08 kg), whereas the cows of G1 (6/16), G2 (7/16) and G7 (9/ 16 to 12/16) had the lower lactation milk yield, peak yield, milk yield per day of lactation and milk yield per day of calving interval with shorter lactation length. This revealed that for the optimum performance of crossbreds, the 10/16 (62.5%) inheritance from Holstein Friesian is ideal. The performance of higher or lower grades was proved to be poorer. The reports of Shrivastava et al. (1986), Singh et al. (1989) and Bhaduria and Katpatal (2003) also indicated that genetic grades significantly influenced the production performance of Holstein Friesian Sahiwal cows. The cows of grades 10/16 216

3 Shuba lakshmi et al., and 6/16 recorded the highest and lowest mean 300- day lactation milk yield, respectively (Bhaduria and Katpatal, 2003), higher grades had significantly longer lactation length, higher milk yield per day of lactation and milk yield per day of calving interval than those of lower grades (Shrivastava et al., 1986; Singh et al., 1989), cows of higher Holstein inheritance (10/16, 12/16 and 14/16) recorded higher peak yield when compared to those with lower exotic inheritance (1/16 to =1/2). Effect of period of calving All the production traits of Holstein Friesian Sahiwal cross cows in the present study were affected significantly (P<0.01) by the period of calving. The cows calved during the period 3 ( ) had the highest least-squares means of kg total lactation milk yield, kg 300-day lactation milk yield, kg peak yield, kg milk yield per day of lactation and 8.23 kg milk yield per day of calving interval with shortest lactation length of days, whereas those calved in periods 1 ( ) and 2 ( ) had the lowest means. Significant influence of period of calving was also reported in the literature on total lactation milk yield (Shrivastava et al., 1985; Mishra and Prasad, 1994), 300-day lactation milk yield (Thakur and Singh, 2000 and 2001), lactation length (Deshmukh et al., 1995b), peak yield (Mudgal et al., 1986, Zaman et al., 1998) and milk yield per day of lactation as well as per day of calving interval (Deokar and Ulmek, 1995). In contrast, Tewari et al. (1995) in Jersey Sahiwal cows, Das et al. (2006) in Holstein Friesian and Sahiwal cows and Singh and Nagarcenkar (1997) in Sahiwal cows observed no significant influence of period on various milk production traits. The best performance of cows calved during the periods 3 and 4 might be due to improvement of managemental practices in the farm over periods, coupled with increased number of high grade cows. Effect of season of calving The least-squares analysis of variance revealed significant (P=0.01) influence of season of calving on all the production traits studied, except lactation length. The least- squares means were highest in cows calved during winter, followed closely by those calved during rainy and summer seasons, which might be due to the variations in climate and quality of feeds and fodders available in different seasons. The cows calved in winter season were in doubly advantageous position as they were exposed to the cool and favorable climatic conditions of preceding rainy season when they were in advanced pregnancy and the pleasant winter season during their early lactation period. In contrast, the cows calved in summer were exposed to hot and dry climate immediately after their calving, leading to lower total lactation milk production. Deshpande et al. (1992), Singh and Nagarcenkar (1997), Das et al. (2001) and Thakur and Singh (2000 and 2005) also noticed the significant influence of season of calving on various productive traits of purebred and crossbred cows and winter calvers recorded the highest means, while non-significant influence of season of calving was reported on total lactation milk yield (Jadhav and Khan, 1995) and 300-day lactation milk yield (Das et al., 2006). Effect of parity The parity had significant effect on all the production traits studied, which might be due to the variations in climatic and environmental factors to which the cows were exposed during different parities. Among the 12 lactations, there was no specific trend in the productive performance of the cows. Gandhi et al. (1995) and Deokar and Ulmek (1995) also reported significant influence of parity on production performance of purebred and cross 217

4 Genetic analysis of the production... Table 1. Least-squares means of various production traits Total lactation milk yield (kg) 300-day lactation milk yield (kg) Lactation length (days) Peak yield (kg) Milk yield per day of lactation (kg) n Mean S.E. n Mean S.E. n Mean S.E. n Mean S.E. n Mean S.E. Milk yield per day of calving interval (kg) n Mean S.E. Overall Genetic grades: ** ** ** ** ** ** G1 (3/8) ab c ab ab b b 0.31 G2 (7/16) ab c b bc b b 0.30 G3 (5/8) a a a a a a 0.23 G4 (3/4) a b a ab b b 0.27 G5 (7/8) a b a a b a 0.26 G6 (15/16) a ab a c ab ab 0.78 G7 (FS) b c ab bc b b 0.26 Period of calving: ** ** ** ** ** ** P1 ( ) c c a b d d 0.46 P2 ( ) c c a b c c 0.26 P3 ( ) a a b a a a 0.21 P4 ( ) b b b b b b 0.23 Season of calving: ** ** ** Summer b b b b b 0.25 Rainy b b b b a 0.25 Winter a a a a a 0.24 Parity: ** ** * ** ** ** d d ab c c c a ab a ab ab a a ab ab a ab a a ab a a ab a a a ab a a a a ab ab ab ab a b bc ab b bc ab e cd b bc c bc c d ab bc c c f d ab c d c a bcd a a c abc a d b d c bc 1.41 Sex of calf: Male Female Means followed by the same superscript(s) do not differ significantly (P< 0.05). *Significant at (P=0.05), **Significant at (P=0.01) 218

5 Shuba lakshmi et al., Table 2. Estimates of heritabilities (diagonal) and genetic (above diagonal), phenotypic (below diagonal) and environmental (below diagonal within parentheses) correlations among various production traits Total lactation milk yield 300-day lactation milk yield Lactation length Peak yield Total lactation milk yield 0.20 ± 0.08 > ± ± day lactation milk yield 0.93 (0.95) 0.18 ± ± ± 0.28 Lactation length 0.66 (0.66) 0.56 (0.56) 0.06 ± ± 0.40 Peak yield 0.03 (-0.02) 0.03 (-0.02) 0.01 (-0.01) 0.16 ± 0.07 bred cows. However, Mudgal et al. (1986) and Thakur and Singh (2000) observed no significant effect of parity on lactation milk yield and lactation length of cows. There was a consistent increase in total lactation milk yield up to 3 rd lactation, which might be due to the development occurring in the body, particularly in the mammary glands due to pregnancy and lactation. Heritabilities The heritability estimates for total lactation milk yield, 300-day lactation milk yield, lactation length, peak yield, milk yield per day of lactation and milk yield per day of calving interval obtained in the present study were 0.20, 0.18, 0.06, 0.16, 0.17 and 0.17, respectively, which were almost similar to the estimates reported by Singh et al. (1986 b) and Deshmukh et al. (1995 a). However, estimates higher than those obtained in the present study was reported by Gaur et al. (1999) in Holstein Friesian Sahiwal cows. The low to moderate heritability estimates for various production traits presented scope for their enhancement through selective breeding of sires under best possible managemental conditions. Genetic Correlations In the present study, total lactation milk yield was positively correlated with the other production traits (Table 2), which indicated that any increase in 300-day lactation milk yield, lactation length or peak yield would simultaneously bring about an increase in total lactation milk yield which could be due to the same set of genes responsible for the expression of these traits. The estimates of genetic correlations obtained in the present study were similar to those reported by Gandhi and Gurnani (1990) and Dubey and Singh (2005), while lower values were recorded by Raheja (1997). In contrast, higher and positive genetic correlation of total 219

6 Genetic analysis of the production... lactation milk yield with the other traits were reported by Zaman et al. (1998). The 300-day lactation milk yield, in turn was positively correlated with all the other traits studied. Lactation length was positively correlated with all the other traits in the present study. Phenotypic and environmental correlations The positive phenotypic correlation offered scope for practicing selection for a trait based on its phenotype, which would automatically improve the other correlated traits. Raheja (1994), Jadhav and Khan (1995) and Banerjee and Banerjee (2003) reported low to moderate positive phenotypic correlations among various production traits. As with the phenotypic correlations, the environmental correlations among majority of the traits were positive, indicating that the influence of environment on the performance of a trait has a correlated influence on certain other traits, which offers scope for simultaneous improvement of several positively correlated traits. Repeatabilities The estimates of repeatability obtained for total lactation milk yield, 300-day lactation milk yield, lactation length and peak yield were 0.13, 0.56, 0.50 and 0.12, respectively which were similar to those of Mudgal et al. (1986). The high repeatability of 30-day lactation milk yield and lactation length offered scope for preliminary selection of cows based on these traits. Most Probable Producing Ability (MPPA) The highest and lowest MPPA estimates based on the total lactation milk yield were and kg, respectively, while for MPPPA based on 300-day lactation milk yield, the MPPA of cows ranged from to kg the MPPA of total lactation milk yield was reported as kg by Gandhi and Gurnani (1990) in Sahiwal cows. REFERENCES Banerjee, S. and Banerjee, S. (2003). Genetic studies on gestation period and its influence on some economic traits in Holstein Friesian Sahiwal cattle. Indian Veterinary Journal 80: Becker, W. A. (1985). Manual of Quantitative Genetics, Academic Enterprises Pullman, Washington. Bhadauria, S. S. and Katpatal, B. G. (2003). Effect of genetic and non-genetic factors on 300-days milk yield of first lactation in Friesian Sahiwal crosses. Indian Veterinary Journal 80: Das, D., Goswami, R. N., Mili, D. C. and Deka, D. (2006). Monthly and cumulative monthly milk yield of Jersey and Holstein Friesian cattle in Assam. Indian Veterinary Journal 83: Das, G. C., Das, D., Roy, T. C., Goswami, R. N. and Nahardeka, N. (2001). Comparative performances of Jersey, Red Sindhi and their crosses with local cattle in respect of some economic traits. Indian Veterinary Journal 78: Deokar, D. K. and Ulmek, B. R. (1995). Milk production efficiency traits in Jersey cattle. Indian Journal of Dairy Science 48: Deshmukh, D. P., Chaudhari, K. B. and Deshpande, K. S. (1995 a). Non-genetic and genetic factors 220

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