Effect of non-genetic factors on first lactation production and reproduction traits in Frieswal cattle

Abstract

The present study was undertaken on first lactation production and reproduction records of 1470 Frieswal cows maintained over a period of 10 years (2003–2012) at two military farms, viz Meerut and Ambala at CIRC, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh. The data were classified according to farm, season, period, and age groups. The overall least squares means of AFC, FL305DMY, FLMY, FLL, FSP, FDP and FCI were 921.35±05.17 days, 2658.57±42.59 kg, 2718.28±44.40 days, 304.15±1.4 days, 163.19±24.75 days, 114.20±5.94 days and 459±8.06 days, respectively. Period had highly significant effect on AFC, FL305YP, FLMY, and FLL, while it had non-significant effect on FSP, FDP and FCI. The effect of season of birth on AFC was statistically non-significant. The average FL305DMY for Meerut farm was 2879.13±41.28 kg while the corresponding estimate for Ambala farm was 2438.02±61.79 kg and the difference was statistically highly significant. The analysis on the effect of season on FL305DMY revealed that the cows calved in summer season had the maximum FL305DMY of 2700.61±57.02 kg followed by the winter (2639.75±50.38 kg) and rainy calvers (2635.37±65.81 kg). The study also revealed that the differences between different seasons were not statistically significant. The least squares analysis revealed that the AFC group had highly significant effect on the FL305DMY.