Abstract
Abstract. The data obtained from the dairy herd of the Arab Company for Agricultural Production and Processing (ACAPP) in a semi arid area 40 km south of Khartoum involved 337 cows with a total of 1049 records from 16 years between 1986 and 2002. The least squares means for age at first calving, calving interval, days open, lactation milk yield, daily milk yield, lactation length and dry period were 29.76±0.40 months, 433.12 ± 6.70 days, 167.79±7.08 days, 3475.53±78.89 kg, 12.29±0.28 kg, 294.10±3.62 days and 164.08 ± 6.70 days, respectively. The analysis of variance showed that the parity number had significant (p<0.05) influences on all studied traits, while year-season of calving influenced (p<0.05) age at first calving, milk yield per lactation and daily milk yield. The sire of cow influenced (p<0.05) lactation yield, daily yield, lactation length and days open. The effects of linear and quadratic regressions of both lactation yield and daily yield on length of lactation were also highly significant (p<0.01). Heritability estimates of age at first calving, calving interval, milk yield per lactation, daily milk yield, lactation length and dry period were generally low (0.098±0.104, 0.047±0.046, 0.130±0.042, 0.123±0.041, 0.172±0.062 and 0.044±0.031, respectively) except the heritability of days open which was 0.51±0.37. The productivity of the herd in this study which averaged 12.3 kg/cow/day was much lower than the expected productivity of Holstein Friesian cows, which reflects the negative impact of the prevalent environment in the Sudan. More records and economic data are required to examine the economic feasibility of raising pure Friesians under Sudan conditions.
Highlights
The Sudan lies entirely within the tropics between latitudes 22° and 4°N
Cattle are the main source of milk and meat in the Sudan and despite the huge numbers of cattle in the country (36 million heads according to AOAD, 2004) the Sudan has to import an appreciable proportion of its milk requirements
Reproductive traits Age at first calving was not significantly (p>0.05) affected by sires indicating that differences between sires in the rate of maturity of their daughters were not important, but it was significantly affected by year seasons of birth
Summary
The Sudan lies entirely within the tropics between latitudes 22° and 4°N. Cattle are the main source of milk and meat in the Sudan and despite the huge numbers of cattle in the country (36 million heads according to AOAD, 2004) the Sudan has to import an appreciable proportion of its milk requirements. The need for a quick solution to the problem of the deficit in milk production has led to the importation of high producing European dairy breeds. In the same period Khartoum Company for milk products imported 500 heifers and the Islamic development Company imported 750 heifers in the period 1986-1989 and since that time the importation of Friesian cows has become widespread. Veterinary care, the special housing needs of exotic cattle and the constraints of the local physical and biotic environment probably contributed to the demise of these ventures. In this paper we attempt to study the performance of Friesian cows of the ACAPP herd whose dairy activities ceased in 2002, the object is to study the impact of genetic and environmental factors on the performance of Friesian cattle under the semi arid environment of Khartoum State
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