Performance evaluation, conservation and improvement of Sahiwal cattle in India

Abstract

SummaryThe Sahiwal cattle, one of the best dairy breeds of Zebu cattle in India and Pakistan, originate from the Montgomery district of Pakistan and is distributed on farmer herds in certain pockets of the bordering districts of Punjab and Rajsthan in India. The animals of this breed are also available in Kenya and are used for crossing with local East African Zebu types to improve milk production. Sahiwal cattle have deep body, loose skin, short legs, stumpy horns and a broad head with pale red to dark brown body colour. The average body weight in adult females and males is around 350 and 500 kg, respectively. The animals of this breed are maintained on various State and Central Government farms, privately owned farms, charitable trusts and a small proportion of animals are also available with the farmers. More than 1 200 breedable females are available at various farms in the country. The average lactation milk yield of Sahiwal cattle on organized farms ranges between 1 500 to 2 500 kg. However, in well-managed herds, the highest lactation milk production in certain cows is more than 4 500 kg. The overall weighted average milk yield, age at first calving, lactation length and calving interval based on the performance at various herds is around 1 900 kg, 36 months, 315 days and 420 days, respectively. The fat and Solid Non Fat (SNF) percent ranges from 4.6 to 5.2 percent and 8.9 to 9.3 percent, respectively. Quite a large proportion of pure-bred Sahiwal cattle maintained on organized breeding farms has been used for the production of cross-bred cattle. As a result, different cross-bred strains of dairy cattle viz Karan Swiss, Karan Fries and Frieswal have evolved at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal and Military Dairy Farms. The breed has also been utilized for the production of synthetic strains like Jamaica Hope (JH), Australian Milking Zebu (AMZ) and Australian Friesian Sahiwal (AFS) in other countries. Currently, efforts are being made to characterize, evaluate and conserve the breed in field conditions. More than 0.10 million doses of frozen semen of this breed are cryopreserved at various semen banks in the country. The frozen semen is being utilized for strengthening and genetically improving the existing herds of the breed through progeny testing programmes of sires associating various herds of Sahiwal in the country.

Reproductive Performance of Crossbred Cattle under Intensive Management Condition

“…Whereas, figures reported by Joshi et al (2001) and Sirrajuddin and Rehman (1999) are lower than the current findings of study. The discrepancy between the reports might have been due to environmental conditions prevailing in the area when study was conducted and reported by various authors mentioned above.…”

“…The age at first calving was 1080 days in Zebu cattle ( Joshi et al, 2001) and 1119 days in Red Sindhi cattle (Sheikh and Zelam, 2000), which fall in the range (726.0 -1132 days) of the current study for Red Sindhi cattle. Reported values for age at first calving in Cholustani and Red Sindhi cattle ranges from 999-1174 days (Choudhry et al, 1983;Sheikh and Zelam, 2000;Souza and Usmani, 1990;Joshi et al, 2001) are in close agreement with the current findings for Red Sindhi cattle.…”

“…The milk yield of Red Sindhi cattle is also variable as reported by various authors (Khatri, 2002;Joshi et al, 2001). …”

Genetic Diversity and Structure of Two Prominent Zebu Cattle Breeds Adapted to the Arid Region of India Inferred from Microsatellite Polymorphism

“…In earlier studies of Indian native cattle, the major focus was on assessment of morphological parameters and information gained from local sources (Nivsarkar et al 2000;Joshi et al 2001;Singh et al 2002;Gaur et al 2003;Karthickeyan et al 2006). Recently, assessment of genetic diversity and delineation of the genetic structure of cattle breeds have become a major concern, as some of the important populations and breeds are either declining or breed characters are being diluted under the present production system.…”

Microsatellite Analysis of Genetic Population Structure of Zebu Cattle (Bos indicus) Breeds from North-Western Region of India

“…Over the years, categorization of these cattle breeds has often been based on morphological data and information gained from the local breed keepers. 1,[4][5][6][7] Hence, an effort to deduce the genetic structure among the Indian native cattle breeds becomes pertinent for the development of future management strategies. For this purpose, microsatellites markers previously exploited for diversity studies in cattle populations from Africa, Europe, and Asia [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] are utilized herein to characterize Indian native cattle breeds.…”