1 research outputs found
Lactation length, lactation milk yield and dry off period of exotic and local crossed cows in Cameroon
No full textData on of 403 genetic crossed cows obtained from the database of the Bambui Centre of the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development (IRAD) in the Sudano-guinean altitude zone of West of Cameroon were used to evaluate effect of parity and season on lactation length, lactation milk yield and dry off period. These animals reared between 1985 and 1998 were crosses between imported Jersey (J) and Holstein (H) bull semen with local White Fulani (WF) and Gudali (G) cows. Results obtained revealed that lactation length (LL), lactation milk yield (LMY) and dry off period (DOP) varied significantly between the different genetic crossed groups of cows. Lactation number and season simultaneously affected these traits. Cows with 75% of Holstein exotic blood (75% H x 25% G) recorded the longest LL (265 ± 27.0 days) and the highest LMY (1995 ± 317 kg) being the shortest DOP (82.7 ± 41.3 days) was in 50% H x 50% G genetic crossed group. Genetic crossed group II (75% J x 25% WF) registered the shortest LL (215 ± 6.35 days), lowest LMY (1149 ± 89.7 kg) and longest dry off period (166 ± 10.4 days). Performances obtained for both LL, LMY and DOP with Holstein-Gudali (50% H x 50% G and 75% H x 25% G) crossed as compared to Jersey-White Fulani crossed revealed their high productive potential through their adaptability capacity to harsh conditions of tropics.
Key words: crossed cows, Cameroon, dry off period, exotic and local breeds, lactation length, lactation milk yiel
