Indian Journal of Animal Research

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Research Article

Indian Journal of Animal Research, volume 54 issue 4 (april 2020) : 405-408

Genetic Parameters and Animal Model Evaluation of First Lactation 305-d Milk Yield and Energy Traits in Karan Fries Cattle

Arun Pratap Singh1,*, A.K. Chakravarty2, Mohsin Ayoub Mir3, Ashwani Arya4
1Department of Livestock Production and Management, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Ajmer-305 206, Rajasthan, India.
2Animal Genetics and Breeding Division, Director, CAFT (AGB), ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, Haryana, India.
3Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Potushai, Bandipora, Srinagar-193 502, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
4Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Mahoba-210 423, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Cite article:- Singh Pratap Arun, Chakravarty A.K., Mir Ayoub Mohsin, Arya Ashwani (2019). Genetic Parameters and Animal Model Evaluation of First Lactation 305-d Milk Yield and Energy Traits in Karan Fries Cattle . Indian Journal of Animal Research. 54(4): 405-408. doi: 10.18805/ijar.B-3786.

ABSTRACT

First lactation records of 351 Karan-Fries cows born to 27 bulls, having 3 or more progeny were used to evaluate sires by animal model (AM). Heritabilities, genetic and phenotypic correlations between the traits were estimated by univariate and bivariate linear animal models. The heritability estimates for 305 days or less milk yield (305MY), fat based energy corrected milk yield (FECMY), fat protein based energy corrected milk yield (FPECMY) and fat protein lactose based energy corrected milk yield (FPLECMY) were 0.23, 0.65, 0.11 and 0.39, respectively. There was a high (0.99) genetic and phenotypic correlation between 305MY, FECMY and FPLECMY. The high and positive genetic correlations between energy traits are indication of common genetic and physiological mechanism governing these traits. Comparison of ranks of the sires based on 305MY, FECMY and FPLECMY by animal model depicted a notable100 per cent level of similarity except for FPECMY in which the ranks were entirely different. There was a high heritability and genetic correlation between FECM and FPLECM. Genetic evaluation of Karan-Fries bulls based on energy corrected milk yield will increase the accuracy of selection than the conventional mil yield evaluation. It can help in mitigating the nutritional insecurity of the country in the long run.

INTRODUCTION

Milk as a wholesome food is a source of income for most of the farmers and useful in mitigating the nutritional insecurity of our country. The energy value of milk depends on milk constituents like fat, protein, lactose etc. Milk provides only 3 percent of dietary energy supply; 6-7 percent of dietary protein supply and 6-8 percent of dietary fat supply in Asia and Africa, compared with 11-14 percent in Europe, Ocenia and America (FAOSTAT, 2012).  All India Livestock Census (2012), exotic/crossbred milch cattle increased from 14.4 million to 19.42 million, giving rise to an increase of 34.78% (Anonymous, 2012). The present level of Holstein inheritance in ‘Karan Fries’ is 62.5%-75% (Gurnani et al., 1986). The estimates of genetic parameters are helpful in determining the method of selection, to predict direct and correlated response to selection, choosing a breeding system to be adopted for future improvement as well as in the estimation of genetic gains. The genetic correlations give the information how genes affecting one trait also affect the other traits. The effectiveness of sire evaluation is the backbone of any breed improvement programme as the contribution of sire path is higher than the dam path for the overall genetic improvement for a trait. In case of males, very intense selection can be practised, as few males are required for breeding purpose. So, one of the main criteria of enhancing the genetic potential of animals in a herd is to use proven sires to transmit superior genetic potential for higher milk production. Milk production per cow has considerably improved in the last decades, but the increase in milk yield has been associated with a higher incidence of health and fertility problems worldwide (Pryce et al., 1997).  There is a general compliance that energy balance should be incorporated into future breeding programs, but direct measurements are expensive and complex to be implemented in practice (Hüttmann et al., 2009).The estimation of genetic parameters of energy corrected milk (ECM) has rarely been investigated until now. Therefore, the prime objective was to study the genetic parameters of ECM and comparison of ranks of sires. It is envisaged that this information will be useful for the genetic evaluation of Karan Fries bulls in India.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Description of the study area
 
Karnal is situated at an altitude of 235 to 252 meters (748 feet) above the mean sea level at 29.68°N latitude and 76.98°E longitude in eastern zone of Haryana which comes under the Trans-Gangetic plain agro climatic zone of India. The climate that prevails is subtropical in nature. The temperature in summer months (April to June) ranges between 24°C-44°C. Karnal experiences moderate rainfall in the months of July and lasts till September. Winters are extremely cold. The temperature ranges from 4°C to 32°C in winter months (October, November, December and January).
 
Standardization and normalisation of data
 
The records of Karan-Fries cows of known pedigree and with normal lactation were included in the present study. The normal lactation was considered as a period of milk production by a cow for at least 100 days, the milk production in lactation was recorded a minimum of 500 kg and the cows calved and dried under normal physiological conditions. Out of 402 Karan-Fries cows, information of 51 cows were not considered for this study due to various reasons like abortion, still birth and other reproductive problems.
 
Data source
 
Data on records of 351 Karan-Fries cows, spread over a period of 12 years maintained at ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal were analyzed for first lactation milk yield and energy traits viz; First lactation 305-day milk yield (305MY- kg), Fat based energy corrected milk yield (FBECMY-kcal), Fat, protein based energy corrected milk yield (FPECMY-kcal) and Fat, protein and lactose based energy corrected milk yield (FPLECMY-kcal). The study was classified into three periods viz; 1(2007-2010), 2(2011-2014) and 3(2015-2018). Each year was sub-classified into four seasons, depending on prevalent meteorological factors, feed and fodder availability as recorded in CSSRI, Karnal (Singh, 1983). Age at first calving of Karan-Fries cows was classified into three age groups using mean and one standard deviation after normalizing the distribution of AFC in the population as 1{≤ 877 (65)}; 2{878-1200 (237)} and 3{≥ 1201 (49)}. 
 
Statistical models of analysis
 
The univariate animal model was fitted to estimate variance components and heritabilities independently for the four traits. Bivariate or pairwise animal models were used to estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations between the traits. Animal model by WOMBAT software (Meyer, 2007) was used for sire evaluation. The season and period of calving, age group were used as fixed effects, and sires were considered as random effect.
       
First lactation energy corrected milk of Karan-Fries cows was estimated by using standard practices as suggested by Overmann and Sanmann (1926) as follows:
 
Fat based energy per kg (cal) (FBE/kg) = Average Test Day fat Percentage (ATDFP) × 9.23) × 1000/103
 
Fat, Protein based energy per kg (cal) (FPBE/kg) = Average Test Day fat Percentage (ATDFP) × 9.23) + Average Test Day Protein Percentage(ATDPP) × 5.71) ×1000/103
 
Fat, Protein, Lactose based energy per kg (cal) (FPLBE/kg) = Average Test Day fat Percentage (ATDFP) × 9.23) + Average Test Day Protein Percentage (ATDPP) × 5.71) + Average Test Day Lactose Percentage (ATDLP) × 3.95) ×1000/103
 
Fat Based Energy corrected milk yield (kcal) (FBECMY) = Fat based energy (FBE/kg) × (305MY)
 
Fat Protein based energy corrected milk yield (kcal) (FPECMY) = Fat protein based energy (FPBE/kg) × (305MY)
 
Fat Protein Lactose based energy corrected milk yield (kcal) (FPLECMY) = Fat protein lactose based energy (FPLBE/kg) × (305MY)
 
Where, the values 9.23, 5.71, 3.95 are calories of heat evolved by the complete combustion of one gram butter fat, one gram protein and one gram lactose, respectively.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The heritabilities, genetic and phenotypic correlations estimates for energy corrected milk yield in the first lactations of Karan-Fries cows are presented in Table 1.
 

Table 1: Heritability (diagonal), genetic (below) and phenotypic (above diagonal) correlation of first lactation traits in Karan-Fries cattle.


               
The heritability for 305MY, FECMY, FPECMY and FPLECMY was medium to high i.e; 0.23, 0.65, 0.11 and 0.39  respectively. The FECMY and FPLECMY had positive genetic and phenotypic correlations (0.99) with 305MY. The FPECMY had positive (0.060) genetic and negative (-0.1) phenotypic correlations with 305MY. The summary statistics of 305MY, FECMY, FPECMY and FPLECMY with respective coefficient of variation are presented in (Table 2).
 

Table 2: Summary statistics for energy corrected 305-d milk yield in the first lactation traits in Karan-Fries cattle.


 
Successful breeding programmes depend on the precision of genetic and phenotypic parameter estimates, which take account of heritability and correlation between traits. The heritability of traits of energy traits in our study indicated sufficient additive genetic variance for affecting the selection to improve the traits genetically. The present heritability estimate of 305MY was in agreement with Mishra and Joshi (2004) and Kumbhare and Gandhi (2007) and higher than the report of Rashia (2010) and Divya (2012) as 0.20. The estimate was lower than Singh (2013) and Singh (2014) who reported values of 0.34 and 0.35, respectively. Very high correlations (0.99) of FECMY and FPLECMY with 305MY also indicate that sires can be evaluated based on ECMY as it accounts for both milk yield and constituent traits and also evidence for common genetic and physiological mechanism regulating these traits. The FPECMY had positive (0.060) genetic and negative (-0.1) phenotypic correlations with 305MY. The correlations indicate that selection for an increased fat protein yield will decrease the milk yield in cattle. Navid Ghavi Hossein-Zadeh (2012) reported heritabilities from 0.14 to 0.21 for energy corrected milk (ECM) and greatest genetic correlations were between ECM (2nd parity) and ECM (3rd parity) (0.96), greatest phenotypic correlations were between ECM (1st parity) and ECM (2nd parity) (0.57) and ECM (2nd parity) and ECM (3rd parity) (0.57). Huttmann et al., (2009) reported the average heritability of 0.23 for daily ECM in the first lactation Holstein cows whereas, Liinamo et al., (2010) reported the average heritability of 0.25 in Nordic Red dairy cattle. Estimates of genetic and phenotypic correlations are crucial in genetic improvement programmes because they indicate the extent to which one trait will genetically and phenotypically vary if a correlated trait is improved. The average breeding value of sires for first lactation 305 days milk yield, FECMY, FPECMY and FPLECMY were 3572.35kg, 1406.09, 2112.43 and 2787.33 kcal, respectively (Table 3).
       
The number of sires below average and above average was similar for all the traits indicating alike ranking of sires. The difference between upper and lower estimates breeding values was highest for FPLECMY as 1,321.63 kcal signifying that this trait discriminated amongst bulls to the highest extent. The FPLECMY was followed by 305MY, FECMY and FPECMY. The ranks of sires by AM method of sire evaluation for 305MY, FECMY and FPLECMY exhibited a 100 percent level of similarity (Fig 1).
 

Fig 1: Trend in the ranking of sires based on breeding value of 305 milk yield and energy traits.


 
There was a huge variation in the ranking of sire based on FPECMY. This may be due to negative correlation of milk yield with fat and protein percent. Higher heritability of ECMY with high genetic and phenotypic correlations with 305MY shows higher prospective for selecting animals based on their first parity records. This is an advantage due to reduced generation interval. Also for many years, sires have been selected for high yields of milk, which has resulted in a very slow increase in fat and protein percentages over time. Herds that are more than one standard deviation below the breed average for fat or protein may benefit from including energy traits in sire selection criteria.

CONCLUSION

It is recommended that in the light of the nutritional security of the country, genetic evaluation of  Karan-Fries bulls should be done based on fat based energy corrected milk yield or fat protein lactose based energy corrected milk yield, as it accounts for both milk production and constituent traits.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors are indebted to the Director and Vice Chancellor, ICAR-NDRI, Karnal, Haryana for providing the infrastructure facilities. The first author is also thankful to NDRI for providing financial assistance for the successful completion of the project.

REFERENCES


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