Abstract
Objective:The objectives of our study were to estimate the effect of some non-genetic factors on production and reproduction traits of Egyptian buffaloes and to estimate the breeding values for these traits.Materials and Methods:Data from 965 lactation records of 305 Egyptian buffalo cows mated by 73 sires that were raised at Mahallet Mousa Experimental farms of Animal Production Research Institute were collected. Dairy records covered the period from 2001 to 2015. The data were arranged and statistically analyzed using SAS version 9.1.3 to study the effect of non-genetic factors and the MTDFREMAL program was included in estimating the expected breeding values.Results:Our results showed that buffalo cows that calved in winter season recorded the highest and significant total milk yield (TMY) and daily milk yield (DMY) traits and the best reproductive performance was indicated by the lower number of services per conception and the shortest calving interval (CI) period. Moreover, age at first calving and dry period (DP) showed a highly significant effect on the TMY and DMY. A significant effect for the level of milk production on days open (DO) period was recorded in our study. The range of sires EBV was 540 kg, 295.2 days, 113.9 days, 2.8 months, and 71.1 days for TMY, LL, DO, CI, and DP, respectively.Conclusion:Buffalo’s breeders must consider the season of calving, parity, and DP in management program because they greatly affect the farm productivity and profitability and they must select animals with higher breeding values to be the parent of the next generation.
Highlights
Improvement of dairy animal production could be achieved either by the improvement of the animals environmental conditions or by the improvement of the mean breeding values of the population, or by a combination of both methods [1]
Our results showed that buffalo cows that calved in winter season recorded the highest and significant total milk yield (TMY) and daily milk yield (DMY) traits and the best reproductive performance was indicated by the lower number of services per conception and the shortest calving interval (CI) period
The highest values were recorded for animals which calved in the winter season (1,716.46 and 8.18 kg, respectively) while the least values were recorded in summer calvers (1,550.33 and 7.81 kg, respectively)
Summary
Improvement of dairy animal production could be achieved either by the improvement of the animals environmental conditions or by the improvement of the mean breeding values of the population, or by a combination of both methods [1]. Productive and reproductive traits are affected by genetic and non-genetic factors Evaluation of these factors provides the basic information for establishing sound breeding programs for genetic improvement of the animal population. It helps in selecting animals with superior genetic merits based on their high breeding values [3]. The season of calving and parity plays a great role on the buffalo performance [5,6,7] because of the great variation in environmental temperature and availability of feedstuffs [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
