PHENOTYPIC TRENDS FOR MILK YIELD IN NILI RAVI BUFFALOES REGISTERED UNDER BULL MOTHER SCHEME AND AT LIVESTOCK EXPERIMENT STATION BAHADURNAGAR- OKARA

Abstract

Efficient breeding plans depend upon the availability of reliable and accurate data. To evaluate the productive and reproductive performance of the Nili-Ravi buffalo, registered under the bull mother scheme, was evaluated from 1980-2020. General Linear Model is used to study the effect of phenotypic characters on milk yield i.e., year of calving, age at first calving, and dam’s parity on productive traits under consideration. The lactation records of all parity are used for the analysis. The data on pedigrees, breeding, and performance records through analysis of variance procedure shows statistically significant (P < 0.05) differences for the effect of 305 days milk yield and lactation length. The Least Squares Mean for lactation milk yield, age at first calving and lactation length are 2108.62 ± 12.80 liters, 1574.49 ± 8.1 and 295.50 ± 1.47 days, respectively. The inclusive results depict that buffaloes calve in the winter season have the highest and most significant total milk yield. The data set could be used as a phenotype for genome-wide association studies as a reference population.