Estimation of lactation persistency of third lactation in various grades of Jersey x Red Sindhi crossbred Cows

Abstract

Milk yield is an important trait in dairy industry; thus, information regarding this phenotype is essential to measure the productivity of a farm. This article aims to estimate the persistency of milk yield between lactation 1 and 2 in various grades of ½ Jersey × ½ Red Sindhi, ¼ Jersey × ¾ Red Sindhi, 3/8 Jersey × 5/8 Red Sindhi, 1/8 Jersey ×7/8 Red Sindhi crossbred of cows. Data was collected from pedigree cum history sheet. Milk yield from the third L3 lactations of 83 cows and 498 observations of various grades of Jersey x Red
Sindhi crossbred cows were recorded in kilograms. Samples were collected up to six months. The mean of milk yield for six months in 182.54±5.40 kg of ½ Jersey × ½ Red Sindhi crosses, 172.25±3.27 Kg of ¼ Jersey × ¾ Red Sindhi crosses,160.49±5.23 kg of 3/8 Jersey × 5/8 Red Sindhi crosses, 170.20±3.92 kg of 1/8 Jersey ×7/8 Red Sindhi crosses. The peak of milk yields was achieved at the second month of the lactation for L3 were 170.24- 228.02 Kg of 3/8 Jersey × 5/8 Red Sindhi crosses, 142.32-283.99 kg, 156.53-260.63 kg and 172.41-334.16 Kg of 1/8 Jersey ×7/8 Red Sindhi crosses. The persistency of milk yield for L3 were 2.10±0.09 of ½ Jersey × ½ Red Sindhi crosses, 1.97 ± 0.07 of ¼ Jersey × ¾ Red Sindhi crosses, 2.22±0.09 of 3/8 Jersey × 5/8 Red Sindhi crosses, 2.07±0.06 of 1/8 Jersey ×7/8 Red Sindhi crosses. Milk yield persistency is the ability of animal to maintain milk production after reaching its peak yield during lactation period. The more persistent dairy cattle show better performance. The present study concluded that persistency of cows could be useful in selecting those have the higher estimates in order to improve the productivity of the herds.