ABSTRACTS 383
Inbreeding would produce both desirable and undesirable progeny.
Information
about the potential usefulness of a strain, would be useful, therefore, before much inbreed-
ing was done. The frequency of tests might be governed by the rate of inbreeding.
In any case progeny tests should be made often enough to properly guide the development
of a line. Rams used for inbreeding may be tested for four purposes, i.e. ' their value
for perpetuating their own line ; for crossing with other inbred lines ; for top crossing with
unrelated purebred ewes and for crossing with ranch ewes. ' These tests may not all be
made on each generation. Testing a ram for perpetuating his own. line may be greatly
limited by the small number of ewes in the line. One means of measuirng his trans-
mitting qualities, however, would be to use him on ewes of mixed breeding or unrelated
purebred ewes.
[J. N. W.]
Animal breeding methods used in the formation of types of cattle suitable for
raising in the tropics. MIGUEL MANRESA (1939). Philippine Agriculturist
28, 479.
T HE Philippines is a tropical country. There are two methods of breeding used in
the production and improvement of cattle suitable for such countries ; one is improve-
ment of locally adapted cattle, the other is the creation of new breeds by blending the
desirable characters of western breeds with those of tropical breeds. The first method is
slow but relatively great numbers of individuals of the species concerned are available so
that little capital is required. The second method is more expensive but has proved
successful in several places. In either case, the success depends upon a permanent, well
defined policy governing the programme. Too frequently, attempts made to improve
cattle have been frustrated by a change of personnel, resulting in an extensive change being
made in an existing programme.
The Red Sindhi, Sahiwal and Nellore cattle of India and the Batangas of the Philip-
pines are mentioned as breeds of animals which have been developed to a considerable
extent in areas of the respective countries where they are indigenous. The Red Sindhi
has been developed by selection and culling. The author quotes Littlewood [1936]
as saying, ' it is one of the purest and most distinct of the Indian breeds of cattle. ' The
Sahiwal is being developed largely by the Imperial Agricultural Research Institute at
New Delhi. In the early work done at this Institute the yield of a herd of 49 Sahiwals
was increased from 2.6 liters of milk daily in 1913-1914 to 5.7 liters in 1928 by proper
breeding methods and management. The average was further increased to 9.56 liters
in 1936 by early training, milking four times daily and pre-milking. Work done in the
Madras Presidency and in the Philippines with pure Nellore (Ongole) cattle has yielded
such results as an increase in the average daily production of milk of 1.4 liters between
1931 and 1936. This was accomplished by the workers in India. Improvement in the
size of the Batangas in the Philippines has given results ' much faster than expected '.
This work, begun in 1919, consisted of close culling and selection with no introduction of
exotic blood.
The Santa Gertrudis breed of Texas, the Philamin of the Philippines, the Africander
of South Africa and an unnamed strain of crossbred cattle of North Australia are mention-
ed as arising from the crossing of local with exotic cattle. The author explains that the
Santa Gertrudis was formed by using the Indian Brahman, Durham and Shorthorn
breeds to produce progeny containing ½ Brahman, 57/128 Shorthorn and 7/128 Durham
in which very rigid selection was practised. The Africander is not discussed. In the
Philippines the Hereford of Texas, Indian Nellore and Philippine native breeds were
crossed in several ways. The ½ Hereford, ¼ Nellore and ¼ Native were found to be the
best. Several such animals were selected by the Philippine College of Agriculture as the
foundation herd of the Philamin breed. The names of the three countries from which
came the breeds that were used were combined by Manresa (1934) to form the name of
this breed. In Australia the •Indian Zebu and the Santa Gertrudis were crossed with
English breeds to produce two groups of hybrids : one containing 15/32 Zebu, 9/32 Santa
Gertrudis and ¼ Hereford ; the other containing ½ Hereford, 3/16 Santa Gertrudis and
5/10 Zebu.
[J. N. W.]