Open Access
Research
(Published
online: 06-04-2016)
3.
Genetic and environmental causes of
variation in gestation length of Jersey crossbred cattle -
Anshuman Kumar, Ajoy Mandal, A. K. Gupta and Poonam Ratwan
Veterinary World, 9(4): 351-355
doi:
10.14202/vetworld.2016.351-355
Anshuman Kumar:
Dairy Cattle Breeding Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research
Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India; anshuman.nanhe@gmail.com
Ajoy Mandal:
Animal Breeding Section, Eastern Regional Station, ICAR-National
Dairy Research Institute, Kalyani, West Bengal, India;
ajoymandal@rediffmail.com
A. K. Gupta:
Dairy Cattle Breeding Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research
Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India; guptaak2009@gmail.com
Poonam Ratwan:
Dairy Cattle Breeding Division, ICAR-National Dairy Research
Institute, Karnal, Haryana, India; punam.ratwan@gmail.com
Received: 16-11-2015, Revised: 26-02-2016, Accepted: 04-03-2016,
Published online: 06-04-2016
Corresponding author:
Anshuman Kumar, e-mail: anshuman.nanhe@gmail.com
Citation:
Kumar A, Mandal A, Gupta AK, Ratwan P (2016) Genetic and
environmental causes of variation in gestation length of Jersey
crossbred cattle,
Veterinary World, 9(4):
351-355.
Abstract
Aim:
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of
genetic and non-genetic factors and estimate the genetic
parameter for gestation length (GL) of Jersey crossbred cattle.
Materials and Methods:
The data included the 986 parturition records on Jersey
crossbred cattle maintained at the Eastern Regional Station of
ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Kalyani, West Bengal,
India during 36 years (1978-2013). The data were analyzed
applying mixed model least square technique considering the
fixed effects of genetic group, season of calving, period of
calving, parity of animal, birth weight, and sex of calf born
from animal. The effect of sire was included as a random effect
in the model.
Results:
The genetic group of animal, season of calving, parity of
animal, and birth weight of calf born were found to be a
significant source of variation in the GL, whereas the period of
calving and sex of calf did not affect this trait. Cows with
<50% and >62.5% Jersey inheritance had the shortest and longest
GLs, respectively. Cows calved in summer and rainy season had
shorter GL than those calved in the winter season. Older cows in
4th parity carried calves for longer days than the cows in 1st
parity. The increase in calf birth weight significantly (p<0.01)
contributed to a linear increase in GL value in this study. The
heritability estimate of GL was 0.24±0.08.
Conclusion:
It can be concluded that selection for lower GL without
distressing future growth of calf can be used to reduce calving
difficulty, but a very small standard deviation of GL limits the
benefit. Moreover, more accurate prediction of calving date will
help in better management and health care of pregnant animals.
Keywords:
crossbred cattle, genetic and environmental factors, gestation
length, heritability.
References
1. Bourdon, R.M. and Brinks, J.S. (1982) Genetic,
environmental and phenotypic relationships among gestation
length, birth weight, growth traits and age at first calving
in beef cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 55: 543-553.
PMid:7130063 |
|
|
|
2. Nadarajah, K. and Burnside, E.B. (1989) Relationships
among gestation length, calving easy and calf mortality in
Ontario Holstein cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 67 Suppl: 87. |
|
|
|
3. Goyache, F. and Gutiérrez, J.P. (2001) Heritability of
reproductive traits in Asturiana de los valles beef cattle
breed. Arch. Tierz., 44: 489-496. |
|
|
4. Sobek, Z., Nienartowicz-Zdrojewska, A., Różańska-Zawieja,
J. and Siatkowski, I. (2015) The evaluation of gestation
length range for different breeds of Polish dairy cattle.
Biom. Lett., 52(1): 37-45.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/bile-2015-0004 |
|
|
|
5. Mandal, A., Roy, P.K., Ghosh, M.K., Chatterjee, A. and
Das, S.K. (2013) Genetic and environmental effects on first
lactation traits of Jersey crossbred cattle in an organized
herd of Eastern India. Indian J. Dairy Sci., 66(2): 130-133. |
|
|
|
6. Harvey, W.R. (1990) Users' Guide for LSMLMW and MIXMDL,
Mixed Model Least Squares and Maximum Likelihood Computer
Program. PC-2 Version. The Ohio State University, Columbus,
USA. |
|
|
7. Kramer, C.Y. (1957) Extension of multiple range tests to
group correlated adjusted means. Biometrics., 13: 13-18.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3001898 |
|
|
8. Nahar, T.N., Islam, M. and Hashath, M.A. (1992) A
comparative study on the performance of F1 crossbred cows
under rural conditions. Asian. Aust. J. Anim., 5: 435-338.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5713/ajas.1992.435 |
|
|
|
9. Qureshi, M.A., Javed, K., Jarral, Z.A. and Khan, S.A.
(2008) Environmental factors affecting performance traits of
crossbred and local dairy cows at Mirpur Azad Jammu and
Kashmir. Pak. J. Agric. Sci., 45: 362-371. |
|
|
10. Norman, H.D., Wright, J.R., Kuhn, M.T., Hubbard, S.M.,
Cole, J.B. and Van Raden, P.M. (2009) Genetic and
environmental factors that affect gestation length in dairy
cattle. J. Dairy. Sci., 92(5): 2259-2269.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2007-0982
PMid:19389985 |
|
|
11. Bhutkar, S.S., Thombre, B.M. and Bainwad, D.V. (2014)
Studies on effect of non–genetic factors on reproduction
traits in Holstein friesian x deoni cows. IOSR. J. Agric.
Vet. Sci., 7(12): 15-19.
http://dx.doi.org/10.9790/2380-071231519 |
|
|
12. Mondal, S.C., Alam, M.M., Rashid, M.M., Ali, M.Y. and
Hossain, M.M. (2005) Comparative study on the productive and
reproductive performance of different dairy genotypes reared
in Bangladesh Agricultural University Dairy Farm. Pak. J.
Nutr., 4(4): 222-225.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3923/pjn.2005.222.225 |
|
|
|
13. Varaprasad, A.R., Raghunandan, T., Kumar, M.K. and
Prakash, M.G. (2013) Studies on the reproductive performance
of Jersey x Sahiwal cows in chittoor district of Andhra
pradesh. Int. J. Agric. Sci. Vet. Med., 1(1): 52-57. |
|
|
14. Bahmani, H.R., Aslaminejad, A.A., Tahmoorespur, M. and
Salehi, S. (2011) Reproductive performance of crossbred
dairy cows under smallholder production system in Kurdistan
province of Iran. J. Appl. Anim. Res., 39(4): 375-380.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09712119.2011.621536 |
|
|
15. Silva, H.M., Wilcox, C.J., Thatcher, W.W., Becker, R.B.
and Morse, D. (1992) Factors affecting days open, gestation
length, and calving interval in Florida dairy cattle. J.
Dairy Sci., 75(1): 288-293.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.S0022-0302(92)77764-9 |
|
|
|
16. Petrović, M.D., Bogdanowić, V., Bogosavljević-Boškowić,
S. and Dokovoć, R. (2010) Effect of systematic factors on
gestation length in simmental cows. Acta. Agric. Serb.,
XV(29): 31-37. |
|
|
|
17. Bakir, G. and Cilek, M. (2009) A research on
reproductive traits of Holstein cattle reared at tahirova
state farm in Balikesir province in Turkey. J. Anim. Vet.
Adv., 8(11): 2383-2387. |
|
|
|
18. Melaku, M., Zeleke., M. Getinate, M. and Mengistie, T.
(2011) Reproductive performances of fogera cattle at metekel
cattle breeding and multiplication ranch, North West
Ethiopia. Online J. Anim. Feed. Res., 1(3): 99-106. |
|
|
|
19. McClintock, S., Beard, K., Gilmour, A. and Goddard. M.
(2003) Relationships between calving traits in heifers and
mature cows in Australia. Interbull. Bull., 31: 102-106. |
|
|
|
20. Turkyilmaz, M.K. (2005) Reproduction characteristics of
Holstein cattle reared in a private dairy cattle enterprise
in Aydin. Turk. J. Vet. Anim. Sci., 29: 1049-1052. |
|
|
21. Nogalski, Z. and Piwczyński, D. (2012) Association of
length of pregnancy with other reproductive traits in dairy
cattle. Asian. Aust. J. Anim., 25(1): 22-27.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5713/ajas.2011.11084 |
|
|
|
22. Goyache, F., Fernández, I., Alvarez, I., Royo, L.J. and
Gutiérrez, J.P. (2002) Gestation length in the Asturiana
delos valles beef cattle breed and its relationship with
birth weight and calving ease. Arch. Zootec., 51: 431-439. |
|
|
|
23. Messine, O., Schwalbach, L.J.M., Mbah, D.A. and Ebangi,
A.L. (2007) Non-genetic factors affecting gestation length
and postpartum intervals in gudali zebu cattle of adamawa
highlands of Cameroon. Tropicaltura, 25(3): 129-133. |
|
|
|
24. Menon, K., Rojan, P.M., Kumar, N.S. and Prasad, V.
(2014) Factors affecting birth weight and gestation period
of crossbred cattle and relationship between them in
intensive farming system. Indian. J. Dairy Sci., 67(2):
158-161. |
|
|
25. Nadarajah, K., Burnside, E.B. and Schaeffer, L.R. (1989)
Factors affecting gestation length in Ontario Holsteins.
Can. J. Anim. Sci., 69(4): 1083-1086.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/cjas89-123 |
|
|
26. Crews, D.H., Jr. (2006) Age of dam and sex of calf
adjustments and genetic parameters for gestation length in
Charolais cattle. J. Anim. Sci., 84: 25-31.
PMid:16361488 |
|
|
27. Jamrozik, J. and Miller, S.P. (2014) Genetic evaluation
of calving ease in Canadian Simmentals using birth weight
and gestation length as correlated traits. Livest. Sci.,
162: 42-49.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2014.01.027 |
|
|
28. Johanson, J.M., Berger, P.J., Tsuruta, S. and Misztal,
I. (2011) Bayesian threshold-linear model evaluation of
perinatal mortality, dystocia, birth weight, and gestation
length in a Holstein herd. J. Dairy Sci., 94: 450-460.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2009-2992
PMid:21183056 |
|
|
29. Olson, K.M., Cassel, B.G., McAllister, A.J. and
Washburn, S.P. (2009) Dystocia, stillbirth, gestation
length, and birth weight in Holstein, Jersey, and reciprocal
crosses from a planned experiment. J. Dairy Sci., 92:
6167-6175.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2009-2260
PMid:19923620 |
|
