Crossbreeding of German Brown x N’dama Cattle – IV: The Trend of Milk Production by the Crossbreds
I. C. Nwosu *
Department of Animal/Fisheries Science and Management, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources Management, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Enugu, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Background: The global dairy industry faces a stark disparity, with developed countries producing over 80% of milk despite having only 33.33% of the cattle population, highlighting the need for effective breeding strategies in developing countries.
Aim: The study aims to investigate the benefit resulting from crossbreeding of German brown and local N’dama cattle.
Methodology: A total of 194 lactation milk yield records from crossbreds and purebred cows of German Brown collected from the crossbreeding programme at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, between 1970 and 1988 were analysed using the least square means of analysis of variance. The records comprised 136 GBF1, 43 GBND, and 12 NDB1; three lactation records from the GBB1 and GBB2 genotypes were excluded due to insufficient data, and no records were available for purebred N'dama. The analysis of variance model included genotype, season, year, sex, and parity as fixed factors.
Results: Crossbreds GBND (50% N’dama inheritance) and NDB1 (75% N’dama inheritance) had comparable milk yield at 1269.59kg and 1341.72 kg, respectively, which were significantly (P<0.05) less than the lactation milk yield of 2037.47kg for the GBP (German brown). Mean lactation length was significantly (P<0.05) longer for the GBP with a value of 339.16 days compared to 290.36 days and 224.78 days for GBND and NDB1, respectively, which were significantly (P<0.05) different from the purebred German brown. Sex had no significant (P>0.05) effect on milk yield/lactation length, while season, year and parity all significantly (P<0.05) affected milk yield/lactation length. There was a significant (P<0.05) effect of genotype on mean daily milk yield; mean daily lactation yield for GBP was 7.26kg/day, which was significantly (P<0.05) different from mean daily lactation yield of 5.90kg/day for the NDB1 which in turn differed significantly (P<0.05) from 4.21kg/day for the GBND.
Conclusion: The finding showed that 50% and 75% N'dama crossbreds (meaning 50% and 25% German Brown blood) clearly possessed a superior genetic capacity for milk production compared to the purebred local N'dama cattle. This demonstrates the value of introducing genes from European dairy breeds
Keywords: Crossbred genotypes, German brown, lactation length, milk yield, N’dama