NationalLibraryOfScotland/medical-history-of-british-india huggingface dataset:
June, 1958 V. N. AMBLE, K. S. KRISHNAN AND J. S. SRIVASTAVA 79
and 1.4 per cent. for the Bangalore herd. These values are substantially higher
than 0.4 to 0.7 per cent. reported by Rendel and Robertson [1950] and Rendel et al.
[1951] for several European herds.
The higher rates of advance expected for the Sindhi herds were due partly to
the higher heritability and repeatability estimates for these herds and partly to the
larger variation in the lactation yield from cow to cow. The greater scope for genetic
improvement through selection in these herds compared to foreign herds is not sur-
prising in view of the fact that very little systematic selection directly for milk
production had been practised on the Indian breeds in the past.
An examination of the different components of the expected genetic advance
in the two herds indicated that very little attention was paid to the breeding worth
of the sires in selecting the progeny retained for further breeding. The rates of
improvement of the milk potentiality of the herds could have been increased if the
sires used were systematically progeny tested at the earliest and this information
utilised in the selection of their sons for breeding. That the current procedure of
sire selection on the basis of the yields of their dams is not very dependable, may be
seen from Table XXX.
TABLE XXX
Comparison of the indices of bulls with their dams' performance
RED SINDHI HERD AT HOSUR
Bull
Number
255
236
282
56
129(0)
139
65
38
118(0)
124(0)
144
238
136(0)
Bull's
index (lb.)
2917(27)
3895(18)
3167(23)
4976(9)
4448(7)
4060(11)
3203(12)
4029(17)
4346(6)
3343(11)
3117(23)
4301(7)
4288(6)
Dam's per-
formance (lb.)
9164(3)
8229(6)
8229(6)
6419(5)
5645(3)
5339(4)
4782(3)
4642(6)
4215(4)
4206(3)
4206(3)
4134(3)
2998(3)
RED SINDHI HERD AT BANGALORE
Bull's
Name
Xavier
Ziman
Warrior
Tazman
Unique
Bull's
index (lb.)
3104(9)
2587(19)
3163(7)
3160(10)
3312(18)
Dam's per-
formance (lb)
5136(5)
3630(8)
3467(8)
3465(8)
3111(8)
NOTE.—The lactation yields of dams have been corrected to the first lactation basis and the
figures in brackets following the bull's index and the dam's performance respectively indicate the
number of daughters' records and the number of lactations on which the estimates are based.
82
STATISTICAL STUDIES ON BREEDING DATA [Vol. XXVIII, Part II
The influence of age at first calving on first lactation yield and the effects of the
order of lactation on important milk characters were examined and lactation correc-
tion factors to convert later records to the first record basis were worked out. Studies
to evaluate the effects of different environmental factors such as the preceding dry
period, the service period and the season of calving on lactation yield were also
carried out.
6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The analysis of the breeding data available for two important herds in the country
was made possible by the Director of Animal Husbandry, Madras and the Director
of Dairy Research kindly agreeing to the past data from their respective Institutes
being used for this purpose, under a project of the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research. The authors are grateful to the two Directors for the facility
and co-operation accorded in the extraction from their records of the extensive
data required for the study.
The authors feel greatly indebted to Dr V. G. Panse, Statistical Adviser, Indian
Council of Agricultural Research for the encouragement given in the prepara
tion of this paper. The computational assistance rendered by Messrs. P. N. Soni
V. Narayana Iyer and B. B. Nayar of the Council are also acknowledged with
thanks.
REFERENCES
Berge, S. (1949). Anim. Breeding Abstr., 18, 157
Carnciro, G. C. and Lush, J. L. (1948). J. Dairy Sci., 31, 203
Dickerson, G. E. and Chapman, A. B. (1940). Amer, Soc. Anim. Prod. Proc., 16
Johansson, I. and Hansson, A. (1941). Kgl. Lantbruksadad Tidskr Nr., 65, 9
Krishnan, K. S. (1956). Indian J. vet. Sci. and Anim. Hush., 26, 149
Kohli, M. L. and K. R. Suri (1957). Indian J. vet. Sci. and Anim. Husbandry, 27, 105
Ragab, M. T. (1950). Ph.D. Thesis, University of Edinburgh
—
Asker, A. A. and Ghazy, M. S. (1954). Indian J. Dairy Sci., 7, 8
Rendel, J. M. and Alan Robertson (1950). J. Genetics, 50
— , — and Alim, K. A. (1951). Emp. J. Exp. Agri., 19
Sanders, H. G. (1927). J. Agr. Sci., 17, 339
Sharma, G. P., Vali, K. N. and Suri, K. R. (1951). East Punjab University Res. Bull. No. 18
Stonaker, H. H., Agarwala, O. P. and Sundaresan, D. J. (1953). J. Dairy Sci., 36, 678
Turner, C. W. (1932). Missouri Agr. Exp. Sta. Res. Bull No. 164
AGE AT FIRST CALVING AND CALVING INTERVAL FOR
SOME INDIAN HERDS OF CATTLE
By V. N. AMBLE, K. S. KRISHNAN and P.N. SONI, Indian Council of Agricultural
Research, New Delhi
[ Received for publication on March 13, 1958
Accepted for publication on March 19, 1958 ]
D ELAYED maturity coupled with long calving interval is a major cause for the
uneconomic nature of dairying in India. A reduction in the age at first calving,
apart from making maintenance of cattle more economical, will be helpful both
for early selection of female stock on the basis of their own performance and for early
progeny testing of bulls. It is the object of this article to present information on
these characters for some dairy herds maintained at the cattle farms belonging to
State Governments or other research institutions, data for which were collected
and studied in the past few years at the Statistical Wing of the Indian Council of
Agricultural Research, New Delhi. Information gathered on village cattle from
a survey conducted by the Council is also given below.
AGE AT FIRST CALVING
Average for farm cows
Information on the average age at first calving of six herds of farm cattle studied
is given in Table I.
TABLE I
Average age at first calving of farm cows
83
Herd
Red Sindhi herd, Livestock Research Sta-
tion, Hosur, Madras State
Red Sindhi herd, Indian Dairy Research
Institute, Bangalore
Kangayam herd, Livestock Research Sta-
tion, Hosur, Madras State
Gir herd, Indian Dairy Research Institute,
Bangalore
Kankrej herd, Institute of Agriculture,
Anand, Bombay State
Tharparkar herd, Government Cattle Farm,
Patna, Bihar State
Number
of
cows
350
289
477
88
98
422
Average
age at first ]
calving
(months)
41.7
41.7
44.1
47.0
47.4
49.4
Standard
error
(months)
0.4
0.4
0.4
0.8
0.8
0.4
Coefficient
of
variation
15
13
20
15
16
14
1 AR/58
8
84
AGE AT FIRST CALVING AND CALVING INTERVAL [Vol. XXVIII, Part II,
It may be seen from Table I that the average age at first calving was
about 42 months for both the Red Sindhi herds. The age at first calving was higher
for all the other herds, being of the order of 44 months for the Kangayam breed of
cattle at Hosur and 47 to 49 months for the other herds. The coefficient of variation
for the age at first calving in the different herds varied from 13 to 20 per cent,
Average age for village cattle
Data relating to the age at first calving of village animals in the States of Punjab
and Pepsu—constituting the reorganised Punjab State—were gathered recently
in the course of a sample survey undertaken by the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research for the study of milk yields, breeds, and feeding and rearing practices of
cattle. The average ages at first calving estimated for the different breeds of cattle
and buffaloes maintained in this region are given in Table II.
TABLE II
Average age at first calving for village animals
Breed
Cows—
Sahiwal
Hariana
Non-descript
Buffaloes—
Murrah
Nili
Non-descript
Number
of
cows
18
558
302
1340
196
135
Average
age at
first
calving
(months)
45.8
46.7
47.4
51.4
53.2
49.5
Standard
error
(months)
1.1
0.3
0.5
0.3
0.6
0.8
coefficient
of
variation
10
15
18
21
16
19
From Table II it may be seen that the age at first calving for village cows was
about 47 months which is of the same order as that for the Gir and the Kankrej
herds of cattle at the different farms mentioned earlier. The average age at first
calving for village buffaloes was of the order of 51 months. An interesting result,
is the relatively early maturity of the non-descript buffaloes which freshened earlier
than the Murrah breed by about two months and the Nili breed by about four months,
June, 1958] V. N. AMBLE, K. S. KRISHNAN AND P. N. SONI 85
Heritability
Scope for reduction in the age at first calving of farm cows through selection was
examined by estimating the heritability of this character. Intrasire regression
estimates of the coefficient of heritability for the different herds are given in Table III
along with the standard errors.
TABLE III
Estimates of heritability of age at first calving of farm cattle
Herd
Red Sindhi herd, Hosur
Red Sindhi herd, Bangalore
Kangayam herd, Hosur
Gir herd, Bangalore
Kankrej herd, Anand
Tharparkar herd, Patna
Degrees of
freedom
192
134
281
29
41
215
Heritability
—0.09
0.16
—0.08
—1.24
0.66*
0.48**
Standard error
0.17
0.29
0.16
0.58
0.24
0.16
* Significant at 5 per cent level.
** Significant at 1 per cent level.
As may be seen from Table III the heritability coefficient showed marked variation
from herd to herd showing thereby that the extent of genetic variation present in
respect of this character greatly differed from herd to herd. Negative values of the
coefficient of heritability obtained for the Red Sindhi and the Kangayam herds at
Hosur and the Gir herd at Indian Dairy Research Institute may be ascribed to
sampling fluctuations and merely indicate that differences in the age at first calving
among cows in these herds are attributable almost wholly to non-heritable causes.
The estimate of heritability coefficient for the Red Sindhi herd at Indian Dairy
Research Institute, Bangalore was positive but not significantly different from zero.
The heritable components of the variation in the age at first calving for the
Tharparkar herd at the Government Cattle Farm, Patna and for the Kankrej herd
at the Institute of Agriculture, Anand were high, being of the order of 48 per
cent and 66 per cent respectively. The estimate for the Kankrej is based on
comparatively a small number of records (as is also the case for the Gir herd) and
the conclusion with regard to the presence of genetic variation in respect of the age
at first calving requires to be confirmed with additional data that would accrue
in the future years. If substantiated, this value of heritability for the Kankrej
herd as also the high value for the Tharparkar herd at Patna would indicate that
there is scope for reducing the age at maturity of these herds through selection
apart from the adoption of measures like feeding or management.
86
AGE AT FIRST CALVING AND CALVING INTERVAL [Vol. XXVIII, Part II,
TABLE IV
Distribution of age at first calving with average first lactation yield
Agei n months
28—32
33—36
37—40
41—44
45—48
49—52
53—60
Above 60
Red Sindhi herd at Hosur
Frequency
12
26
99
73
43
20
13
4
Average first
lactation
yield (lb.)
3056
3711
3609
3776
3856
4332
2922
1654
Red Sindhi herd at Bangalore
Frequency
3
37
67
68
32
15
15
3
Average first
lactation
yield (lb.)
2966
2788
2399
2803
2750
3384
3313
2976
Kangayam herd at Hosur
Frequency
4
40
118
91
57
28
46
16
Average first
lactation
yield (lb.)
1848
1755
1484
1420
1309
949
1272
1486
Tharparkar herd at Patna
Frequency
..
32
62
80
91
83
28
Average first
lactation
yield (lb.)
..
2038
2606
2420
2696
3021
3169
3077
TABLE V
Analysis of variance at first lactation yield
(Unit of 10 lb.)
Source of variation
Between age groups
Within age groups
Red Sindhi herd at Hosur
D.F.
7
282
M.S.
56,478
21,012
V.R.
2.69**
Red Sindhi herd at Bangalore
D.F.
7
232
M.S.
27,964
21,282
V.R.
1.31
Kangayam herd at Hosur
D.F.
7
392
M.S.
19,726
4,161
V.R.
4.74**
Tharparkar herd at Patna
D.F.
6
374
M.S.
51,768
15,618
V.R.
3.31*
D.F., M.S. and V.R. denote degrees of freedom, mean square and variance ratio respectively.
June, 1958] V. N. AMBLE, K. S. KRISHNAN AND P. N. SONI 87
Influence of age at first calving on milk production
Influence of the age at first calving on first lactation yield was studied for four
of the herds in the cattle farms mentioned earlier. The Gir and the Kankrej herds
were omitted from this study as the data available for these two herds were
inadequate.
The average first lactation yield for cows having age at first calving in different
intervals is given in Table IV. The results of analysis of variance (Table V) indicated
that the average lactation yield for the groups of cows having different ages at
first calving showed significant variation for the Red Sindhi and Kangayam herds
at Hosur and for the Tharparkar herd at Patna. The trend in the lactation yield
was, however, different for the three herds. Among the Red Sindhi cows at Hosur,
those which calved prior to 33 months or later than 52 months of age were poor
yielders. The average lactation yield for groups of cows having age at first calving
within this range did not differ significantly from group to group. For the Kangayam
cows at Hosur progressive decrease in average lactation yield for cows having longer
age at first calving was noticed up to the age group 49 to 52 months. The trend for
the Tharparkar herd at Patna was almost the reverse ; the average lactation yield
for cows in the later age groups was generally higher than that for the earlier groups
for this herd.
The foregoing results indicate that the influence of age at first calving on milk
yield differed from breed to breed and also from herd to herd for the same breed.
CALVING INTERVAL
Average for farm cows
The average interval between first two calvings for the different herds of farm
cattle is given in Table VI
TABLE VI
Average calving interval for farm cows
Herd
Red Sindhi herd, Hosur
Red Sindhi herd, Bangalore
Kangayam herd, Hosur
Gir herd, Bangalore
Kankrej herd, Anand
Tharparkar herd, Patna
Number of
cows
261
237
317
69
73
376
Average
calving
interval
(months)
18.0
14.7
16.7
15.7
16.2
14.8
Standard
error
(months)
0.3
0.3
0.3
0.5
0.4
0.2
Coefficient
of
variation
30
26
28
27
21
22
88
AGE AT FIRST CALVING AND CALVING INTERVAL [Vol. XXVIII, Part II,
It may be seen from Table VI that the average calving interval for the
different herds varied from 15 to 18 months. It is interesting to note that herds
having the lowest and the highest average calving interval are both of the Red
Sindhi breed.
AVERAGE FOR VILLAGE CATTLE
From the data pertaining to the survey on village animals conducted in the
States of Punjab and Pepsu referred to earlier, the average age at second calving was
estimated for the different breeds of cattle and buffaloes. By taking the difference
between the ages at the two calvings, the interval between the first two calvings was
estimated. The averages and the standard errors for the age at second calving and
the calving interval are presented in Table VII.
TABLE VII
Average age at second calving and first calving interval for village animals
Breed
Cows—
Sahiwal
Hariana
Non-descript.
Buffaloes—
Murrah
Nili
Non-descript
Age at second calving
Number of
cows
10
642
382
1329
131
157
Average
(months)
61.5
63.3
60.6
68.0
70.7
62.4
Standard
error
(months)
4.3
0.3
0.5
0.3
0.7
0.8
Coefficient
of
variation
22
13
16
15
11
17
Calving interval
Average
(months)
15.7
16.7
13.2
16.6
17.5
13.0
Standard
error
(months)
4.3
0.4
0.7
0.4
0.9
1.1
It will be seen from Table VII that whereas the calving interval for the Hariana
cows is of the same order as that for the Kangayam herd given in Table VI, the
estimates of the calving interval for the non-descript cattle as well as buffaloes have
turned out to be extremely low. The calving interval for the two buffalo breeds
June, 1958] V. N. AMBLE, K. S. KRISHNAN AND P. N. SONI 89
is of the order of 17 months, The estimate for Sahiwal breed based as it is on an
extremely small number of cows is of poor precision as shown by the high standard
error attached to it,
Heritability
The extent to which variation in calving interval can be ascribed to heritable
causes was examined by working out the heritability coefficient, The intrasire
regression method was adopted for estimation. The estimates obtained for the
different herds (Table VII) indicated that the variation observed in this character
was wholly due to non-genetic causes. Out of the six herds for four the heritability
estimates were negative, due obviously to sampling fluctuations.
TABLE VIII
Estimates of heritability of calving interval
Herd
Red Sindhi herd, Hosur
Red Sindhi herd, Bangalore
Kangayam herd, Hosur
Gir herd, Bangalore
Kankrej herd, Anand
Tharparkar herd, Patna
Intrasire degrees
of freedom
155
125
223
23
25
204
Horitability
—0.08
0.13
0.11
—0.37
—0.31
—0.01
Standard error
0.20
0.20
0.19
0.48
0.40
0.16
Repeatability
Calving interval is a character for which more than one record will be available
for a cow kept under record for three or more calvings. It is of interest to examine
how far the early record is correlated with the calving interval in later lactations of
the same cow. This is done by working out the repeatability coefficient for this
character. The estimate of this coefficient is provided by the intraclass correlation
between the records of the same cow in her different lactations. In obtaining these
estimates for the four larger herds, the later records were converted to the first
record basis by using appropriate lactation correction factors [Sanders, 1927]. For
90
AGE AT FIRST CALVING AND CALVING INTERVAL
[Vol. XXVIII, Part I
the Gir and the Kankrej herds such correction factors could not be worked out owing
to the inadequacy of the data. In the case of these two herds an alternative pro-
cedure for the removal of the effect of the order of lactation was adopted by confining
the analysis to the data on cows each having records for the first three calving intervals.
Though this procedure sacrificed some information the resulting loss was not heavy
as the number of cows with more than four lactation records was not big.
It may be seen from Table IX that the repeatability estimates of calving
interval were not significant for four of the six herds studied. Only for the Red
Sindhi herd at Hosur and the Tharparkar herd at Patna the repeatability coefficients
were significantly different from zero and the estimates for both the herds were of
the order of 0.2.
TABLE IX
Estimates of repeatability of calving interval
Herd
Red Sindhi herd, Hosur
Red Sindhi herd, Bangalore
Kangayam herd, Hosur
Gir herd, Bangalore
Kankrej herd, Anand
Tharparkar herd, Patna
Degrees of freedom
Between
animals
274
243
331
43
33
407
Within
animals
517
609
681
86
66
1174
Repeatability
0.21
0.08
0.08
0.17
0.17
0.19
95 per cent
confidence
interval
0.13 to 0.28
0.00 to 0.22
0.01 to 0.14
0.00 to 0.37
0.00 to 0.39
0.14 to 0.24
DISCUSSION
The results obtained for the average age at first calving for the different breed
of cattle in the farms as well as in villages indicated that the age at first calving for
Indian cattle is substantially higher than that for the herds in the temperate regions
for which it varies from 27 to 30 months [Turner 1932, Dickerson and Chapman
1940 and Johansson and Hansson 1941]. Studies reported on other Indian herds
June, 1958J V. N. AMBLE, K. S. KRISHNAN AND P. N. SONI 91
also indicated similar results [42.4 months for the Red Sindhi herd at Allahabad
Agricultural Institute reported by Stonaker et al. 1953 and 58.8±.2 months for
the Hariana herd at Hissar reported by Kohli and Suri 1957].
The average calving interval for the different herds studied varied from about
15 months to 18 months. These results are in agreement with those reported for
other Indian herds [16 months for the Red Sindhi herd at Allahabad Agricultural
Institute reported by Stonaker et al. 1953 and 17.5±0.2 months for the Hariana
herd at Hissar reported by Sharma and others 1951].
Heritability studies on the age at first calving and the calving interval indicated
that the variation in respect of both these characters have to be ascribed largely
to non-genetic causes such as feeding and management. It would, therefore, appear
that selective breeding in respect of these characters with a view to getting more
economic strains of cattle is not likely to be very successful. Exception should,
however, be made for the Kankrej and the Tharparkar herds in respect of age at
first calving. Scope for reduction in the age at first calving through selection is
indicated in these two herds. It is of interest to note that the average age at first
calving was higher for these two herds than for other herds.
The poor breeding performance of Indian cattle has resulted generally in the
longer generation interval for them compared to the foreign herds. The mean
generation interval, i.e. the average age of parents when their offspring is born
was of the order of about six years for the Red Sindhi herd at Hosur, seven years for
the Red Sindhi herd at Bangalore and the Kangayam herd at Hosur and about eight
years for the Tharparkar herd at Patna. These intervals were longer than those
reported for the foreign herds of dairy cattle which ranged from about three and
a half years to five and a half years [Lush et al., 1936, Johansson 1949 and Rendel
and Robertson, 1950].
SUMMARY
The average age at first calving for some Indian breeds of cattle were worked out
both from farm and survey data. The average age at first calving varied from 42
to 49 months for the farm herds of cows and was about 47 months and over 50
months for village cows and buffaloes in the Punjab. Scope for reduction in the
age at maturity through selection was examined by working out heritability esti-
mates for age at first calving in the different herds. These estimates indicated that
for two of the herds having a relatively higher age at first calving such scope for
reduction existed. An examination of the influence of age at first calving on first
lactation yield indicated divergent trends for the different breeds.
The average calving interval between first two calvings for the different herds
studied, varied from 15 to 18 months, calculation of heritability and repeatability
coefficients indicated that there was little genetic variation present for exploitation
through selection and that the early calving interval record of a cow is not correlated
appreciably with the later calving intervals.
1 AR/58
9
92
AGE AT FIRST CALVING AND CALVING INTERVAL [Vol. XXVIII, Part II,
REFERENCES
Dickerson, G. E and Chapman, A. B. (1940). Amer. Soc. Anim. Prod. Proc., 16
Johansson, I and Hansson, A. (1941). Kgl. Lantbruksaded, Tidskr, No. 65
Johansson, I. (1949). Sartryck Ur. Kungl. Lanthruksakdemiens. Agr., 88
Kohli and Suri (1957). Indian J. vet. Sci. and Anim. Husb., 27, 105
Lush, J. L., J. C. Hulbert and O. S. Willham (1936). J. Heredity, 27, 61
Rendol, J. M. and Alan Robertson (1950). J. Genetics, 50, 1
Sanders, H. G. (1927). J. Agric. Sci., 17, 339
Sharma, G. P., Vali, K. N. and Suri, K. R. (1951). East Punjab University Res. Bull. No. 18
Stonaker, H. H., Agarwala, O. P. and Sundaresan, D. (1953). J. Dairy Sci., 36, 678
Turner, C. W. (1932). Missouri Agric. Exp. Sta. Res. Bull. No. 164