Structural measurements are indicators of animal performance, productivity and carcass characteristics. This study was conducted with the objectives of assessing structural measurements, developing body weight prediction and structural indices for cows of Arsi breed. The cows were purchased from highland and lowland agro-ecologies of Arsi and East Shoa zones of Oromia regional state, Ethiopia and kept in Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center (ATARC) for the breed development purpose. Totally 222 cows were included in the structural traits measurement. Thirty four young heifers were also considered in the study. Twenty two structural traits were considered during observational survey. The structural index was calculated from the phenotypically correlated linear measurements. Structural traits were analyzed by T-test of SPSS version twenty four. The observed average values of height at wither, chest depth, heart girth, body length, pelvic width, cannon bone circumferences of the cows were 107, 55.62, 141.06, 117.82, 31.41 and 13.58cm, respectively. Heart girth (0.82), flank girth (0.73), hook circumferences (0.67), chest depth (0.65) and height at rump (0.64) were highly correlated (P< 0.01) to body weight of the cows. Regression analysis indicated that hearth girth had the highest coefficient of determination for body weight of the cows and heifers. Accordingly, the simple linear equations were developed to predict the body weight of cows and heifers. Body weight of Arsi cow (y) = -221.005 + 3.1(heart girth) and Body weight of Arsi heifer (y) = -188.452 + 2.75 (heart girth). Based on this, the measuring chart tape can be developed to estimate the body weight of Arsi cows and heifers at field condition where there is no access to weighing scales.

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The study was conducted at Adami Tulu and Dugda districts of Oromia regional state, Ethiopia to determine the optimum level of seeding ratio and planting time of cowpea under maize for optimum forage biomass production and maize grain yield. Combinations of four levels of cowpea seeding ratios and four different cowpea planting dates were laid out in a randomized complete block design in factorial arrangement with three replications. The levels of seeding ratios were 100%, 75%, 50%, 25%, 0% (sole maize) for the two districts. The four planting dates for cowpea were simultaneously planting with maize, 10 days after maize planting (DAMP), 20 DAMP and 30 DAMP. The results indicated that increasing seeding ratio of cowpea from 25% to the highest level (100%) resulted in significantly increased cowpea forage biomass yield. Time of cowpea planting in maize also influenced the plant height and biomass yield of cowpea. The highest forage biomass yield was recorded from simultaneously planting of the two crops. On the other hand, seeding ratio of cowpea has significantly influenced the grain yield of maize. It was also indicated that the time of cowpea planting in maize have significantly affected the grain yield of maize with simultaneously planting resulting in the lowest grain yield. The total LER in most of the intercropping system was more than one showing that intercropping of forage legumes with maize is more advantageous than sole cropping of maize. The optimum forage legume biomass yield (1.78 t/ha) was obtained from the combination of seeding ratio of 75% with 10 DAMP without significantly (p>0.05) reducing the grain yield of maize. Hence this combination was recommended for production of cowpea forage and maize grain from intercropping of the two crops in the study areas. From these results, it can be concluded that additional forage can be produced by intercropping cowpea with maize at their appropriate seeding ratio and planting time with a little or no sacrifice in maize grain yield. Moreover, it is important to further demonstrate and promote the recommended maize-cowpea intercropping practices for the end users of the study areas and similar agro-ecologies.