Abstract
Ethiopia has largest livestock population in Africa. Despite the largest cattle population, its productive and reproductive performance is very low productivity is relationship between inputs and outputs. The information about reproductive and productive performance in Ethiopia is limited for smallholder. Therefore; the objective of this review paper was to highlight the overall aspects of reproductive and productive performance parameters under Ethiopian condition. Reproductive performance is a trait of outstanding importance in dairy cow enterprises. The production of milk depends heavily on reproductive activity. Reproductive performance traits include number of service per-conception (NSC), calving interval (CI) and days open (DO). Productive performance traits include lactation length (LL), lactation yield (LY) and daily milk yield (DMY) are important criteria for profitable dairy farming. In Ethiopia, crossbred dairy cattle mainly are crosses of zebu with Holstein-Friesian and the mean reproductive performance like CI and productive performance like LL were near to the optimum. The mean values of reproductive and productive traits lower in case of indigenous breed than Friesian and their crosses. However, information is limited about the reproductive and productive performance of dairy cows in smallholder, urban and peri-urban dairy farms in the tropics, particularly in Ethiopia. With efficient management of cows, it is possible to improve performance traits. It is concluded that by improving genetic makeup of dairy cow it is possible to improve the reproductive and productive performance of dairy cattle in Ethiopia.
Highlights
Ethiopia has largest livestock population in Africa
Reproductive performance is a trait of outstanding importance in dairy cattle enterprises though; the production of milk depends heavily on reproductive activity [5]
Reproductive performance of dairy cows is determined by traits like age at first services (AFS), age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI), days open (DO) and number of service per conception (NSC)
Summary
Ethiopia has largest livestock population in Africa. The cattle population in Ethiopia is estimated 59.5 million, with about 55.5% females and 45.5% males [1]. Despite the largest cattle population, its productive and reproductive performance is very low productivity [3]. This low productivity performance is due to; feed shortage (in terms of quality and quantity), lack of access to land, disease prevalence, low level of management, poor breeding management like accurate heat detection and timely insemination, delayed days open, late age at first calving, long calving interval, short lactation length and low milk production [4]. The review paper gives information to farmers and bovine breeders regarding reproductive and productive performances improvement of cattle. The objective of this review paper was to highlight the overall aspects of reproductive and productive performance parameters under Ethiopian condition
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