ISSN 2375-1258
African Journal of Dairy Farming and Milk Production Vol. 1 (4), pp. 079-084, November, 2013. © International Scholars Journals
Full Length Research Paper
Effect of non-genetic factors on milk production of Holstein Friesian × Deoni crossbred cows
Zewdu Wondifraw*, B. M. Thombre and D. V. Bainwad
Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science, College of Agriculture, Marathwada Agricultural University (MAU), Parbhani- 431402 (M.S) India.
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]. Tel: +251910172313 Fax: +215587711764.
Accepted 9 September, 2013
Abstract
This research was conducted to evaluate the effect of non-genetic factors on milk production of Holstein Friesian × Deoni crossbred cows. Data representing 256 HF × Deoni crossbred cows from cattle crossbreeding project with 1485 total records of lactation over a 30 years period were analyzed to determine the effects of period of calving, season of calving, age at first calving and parity on milk production. The overall least squares mean of lactation milk yield, 305 days milk yield, lactation length, and milk yield per day of lactation length were 1661.35±15.17, 1707.25±13.25, 296.80±2.29 and 5.65±0.04 kg, respectively. All sources of variation were significant except season of calving for 305 days milk yield and lactation length; age at first calving for 305 days milk yield and milk yield per day of lactation length. Milk production was depressed for cows calving in summer. First lactation cows had lowest milk production, and highest production occurred in 5th parity. It was therefore, concluded that, HF × Deoni crossbred cows were affected by non-genetic factors.
Key words: Crossbred cows, productive traits, period and season of calving, parity.