Introduction

The crossbred/exotic cattle in India was 39.79 million which constitute around 21% of the total cattle population (190.9 million), while the indigenous cattle population constitute around 79% (151.17 million) (19^th Livestock Census,DAHD,2012). 12^th livestock census, 2012 have revealed that crossbred population in Indian increased by 20.18% from 2007 (33.06 million) to 2012 (39.73 million), whereas indigenous cattle population decreased by 8.94% during this period. Milk production in India also increased from 107.9 million tons to 132.4 million tons from 2007 to 2012. This volume of milk was contributed by in milk population of both cattle and buffaloes. This overall increase in milk production clearly indicates the better performance of crossbred over indigenous animals and increased preference of farming community towards the crossbred cattle population. Over the past 40 years, attempts have been made to synthesize new crossbred strains of cattle in India by crossing indigenous breeds with temperate exotic cattle. These attempts were intensified only after 1970 when the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) focused on it and established major projects on crossbreeding of indigenous cattle. Development of Vrindavani cattle was one of the outcome of all these efforts towards the augmenting the country’s milk production (Singh et al., 2011). Vrindavani cattle carry 50–75% exotic inheritance (Holstein-Friesian, Jersey and Brown Swiss) and 25–50% native indigenous component (Hariana) (Pandey et al., 2006). Inter se mating is followed and population is maintained through of these animals within the said group with continuous selection. Present study was conducted with an objective to estimate the effect of non-genetic factors on various growth traits of Vrindavani cattle.

Materials and Methods

The present study was conducted at cattle and buffalo farm, Indian Veterinary Research Institute (ICAR – IVRI), Izatnagar (UP), India, which is located at an altitude of 169.2 m above the mean sea-level, at latitude of 28°22′ north and at longitude of 79°24′ east. The mean annual temperature is about 21°C. The mean monthly temperature ranges between around 13°C in January and 30°C in May, whereas the extreme temperature ranges between about 5°C and 40°C and relative humidity ranges between 15 and 85 percent. The data included consists a total of 1905 Vrindavani calves growth records born from August, 2006 to March, 2016. Growth traits were measured at various ages includes birth weight (BW), weight at 3 (WT3), 6 (WT6), 12 (WT12), 18 (WT18) and 24 (WT24) months of age. Period of birth divided into 3 groups (I-2006 to 2009; II-2010 to 2012; III- 2013 to 2016) based on average rainfalls and season of birth divided into 3 groups (I- November to February; II- March to June; III- July to October) based on the agro climatic conditions. SAS package was used for analyzing the data by taking the following model-

Y_ijkl = µ + P_i + S_j + SE_k + e_ijkl

Where,

Y_ijkl = Observation on l^th cow in i^th period of birth, j^th season of birth and k^th sex group

= Overall mean

Y_i = Effect of i^th Period of birth (1, 2 & 3)

S_j = Effect of j^th season of birth (1, 2 & 3)

SE_k = Effect of k^th sex (male & female)

e_ijkl = Random error~NID (0, σ²_e)

Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) method used for the estimation of variance components of the traits under study. Heritabilities were estimated by using these variance components.

Results and Discussion

Period of birth, Season of birth and sex have significant effect on the birth weight. Calves born in season II have the higher body weight when compared with the others; this can be correlated with extreme cold and hot temperatures during other two seasons and comfortable climatic conditions during the season II from March to June. Rainfall during the season II leads to the availability of sufficient green fodder and comfortable temperatures during this season can be correlated with the results obtained in the present study. Overall growth rates of the calves born during the period II were higher when compared with the claves born during the other periods. The average rainfall during period I, period II and period III were 996.7 mm, 1081.27 mm and 993.11 mm respectively (https://knoema.com/IMDMRD2016). With these average rainfall values we can correlate the better growth rates of the calves born during period II (2010-2012). The overall mean values and heritabilities are shown in Table 2. Least square means are represented in Table 1.

Table 1: Estimates of Least square analysis means of Growth Traits in Vrindavani Cattle

B.WT, W3, W6, W12, W18, W24 = Body weight at birth, 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of age; **P < 0.01 and *P < 0.05

Birth Weight

Overall mean value of birth weight was 22.39±0.11 kg obtained from 1905 records, similar result were observed by Kabir and Islam (2009) in Sindhi crosses and Sahiwal crosses and Demeke et al.(2003) in a mixed population of purebred Bos indicus and crossbred cattle; Chen et al. (2012) and Pal et al. (2004) in Karan Fries. Birth weights in this study were lesser than the findings of Singh et al. (1997) in FN×HR cross; Neser et al. (2012) in African Brangus cattle and Pico et al. (2004) in African Brahman Cattle; Rahman et al.,(2015) in growth performance of crossbred calves. Period of birth, season of birth and sex have significant effect on birth weight. Claves born in season II (March-June) have higher birth weights, similar results observed by Matin et al.(1993). Male calves have the higher birth weights when compared with female calves. Heritability of birth weight was 0.139±0.002, which was similar to the findings of the Demeke et al., 2003 (0.14±0.03) in a mixed population of purebred Bos indicus and crossbred cattle Prayaga and Henshall (2005) in crossbred population; and Brandt et al. (2010) in German Angus and Simmental crossbred beef cattle, but lower than the findings of Pico et al., 2004 in South African Brahman cattle Plasse et al., 2002 in Brahman cattle. Calf sex had significant effect on birth weight which was in agreement with findings Kabir and Islam (2009) in crossbred calves.

Table 2: Estimates of overall mean, heritability of various growth traits in Vrindavani cattle

= Overall mean, N = Number of records, Vs = sire variance, Ve = error variance

Body Weight at 3 Months

Overall mean value of body weight at 3 months of age in the present study was 53.274±0.270 kg. Period of birth and season of birth have significant effect on the weight at 3 months of age. Calves born during III period (2013-16) showed more weights when compared with other two periods. Claves born during season II (March-June) have more weights at 3 months of age rather than other two seasons. Findings of weight at 3 months of age in this study are higher than the findings of Nweze et al. (2012) in N’dama and Muturu crossbred; and lower than the findings of Malau Aduli et al. (1993) who reported it 72.4 in Friesian and Bunaii crossbred; Rahman et al., 2015 in crossbred calves (64.32kg) and Pal et al., 2004, who reported 59.38 kg for Karan Fries. Heritability estimate of body weight at 3 months of age was 0.204±0.004.

Body Weight at 6 Months

Body weight at 6 months of age in the present study was 89.263±0.510 kg. Period of birth and season of birth have significant effect on the weight at 6 months of age. Calves born during II period (2010-12) and season II (March-June) have more body weights when compared with others. Weight at 6 months of age reported in present study was higher than the findings of Nweze et al. (2012) in N’dama and Muturu crossbred and lower than the findings of Chen et al. (2012) in crossbred population derived from Piedmontese and Nanyang cattle and lower than the findings of Rahman et al. (2015) in crossbred calves (99.06kg). Heritability estimate of body weight at 6 months of age in the present study was 0.110±0.004 which was higher than the reports (0.07) of Plasse et al., 2002 in Brahman cattle and slightly less than (0.19) the findings of Vergara et al., 2014 in a Colombian multi breed beef cattle population.

Body Weight at 12 Months

A total of 728 records were used for the estimation of mean value of body weight at 12 months of age. Period of birth, Season of birth and sex have significant effect on the body weight at 12 months of the age. Overall mean value of body weight at 12 months of age was 151.03±0.96, which were in compliance with the findings of Rahman et al. (2015) in crossbred calves (151.77 kg). Claves born in Period II (2010-12) and Season II (March-June) have higher bodyweights when compared with other periods and seasons respectively. Males and females have almost equal bodyweights at this age. Present findings are higher than the findings of Nweze et al. (2012) in N’dama and Muturu crossbred and lower than the findings of Chen et al. (2012) in crossbred population derived from Piedmontese and Nanyang cattle. Heritability of body weight at 12 months of age in this study was 0.261±0.011, which was higher than the findings of Demeke et al., 2003, in a mixed population of purebred Bos indicus and crossbred cattle.

Body Weight at 18 Months

Body weight at 18 months of age was estimated using a total of 600 records which showed overall mean value of 229.68±1.22 kg. Period of birth, Season of birth and sex of the animal have no significant effect on body weight at 18 months of i.e. calves born in different periods and seasons have no significant differences among them. Findings of body weight at 18 months of age in the present study were higher than the findings of Nweze et al. (2012) in N’dama and Muturu crossbred and lower than the findings of Chen et al. (2012) in crossbred population derived from Piedmontese and Nanyang cattle. Weight at 18 months of age has the heritability value of 0.167±0.009 which was similar to the findings (0.13) of Plasse et al., 2002 in Brahman cattle.

Body Weight at 24 Months

Mean value of body weight at 24 months of age was 291.58±1.60, estimated by using the 536 record of Vrindavani cattle. Period of birth and Season of birth have significant effect (P<0.01) on the body weight at 24 months of age, whereas sex have no effect on it. Findings in the present study were higher than the observations of Nweze et al. (2012) in N’dama and Muturu crossbred and lower than the findings of Chen et al. (2012) in crossbred population derived from Piedmontese and Nanyang cattle. Weight at 24 months of age have higher heritability (0.531±0.031) when compared with weight at other months of age, which was less than the findings of Chen et al. (2012) in Piedmontese and Nanyang cattle crossbreed.

Conclusion

In the present study, period of birth and season of birth have significant effect on the growth traits at various ages except weight at 18 months of age. Male calves have higher growth parameters than female calves. Calves born in the season II have higher body weights when compared with other seasons. This can be correlated with extreme cold and hot temperatures during other two seasons and comfortable climatic conditions during the season II from March to June. Rainfall during the season II leads to the availability of sufficient green fodder and comfortable temperatures during this season can be correlated with the results obtained in the present study. Overall growth rates of the calves born during the period II were higher when compared with the claves born during the other periods, this can be correlated with average rainfall (1081.27 mm) during this period, which was greater than the other two periods (Period I -996.7 mm and Period II -993.11 mm). Overall results in the present study clearly showing that, the growth performances of Vrindavani cattle can be improved by modifying the feeding pattern and management practices in adverse climatic conditions. Therefore, additional strategies like improving non-genetic factors and proper management of cows are needed to counteract the adverse effect of periodical and seasonal changes and clearly suggesting for adjustment of growth records for these non-genetic factors for further genetic evaluation of Vrindavani cattle.

Reference

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