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Vol. 4, Issue 4, Part A (2019)

Factors affecting reproductive performance of crossbred dairy cattle at the Bambui regional centre of the institute of agricultural research for development Cameroon

Author(s): Hakoueu Nzakou Blandine Flora, Aziwo Tatanja Niba, Bayemi Pougueu Henri Dieudonné, Isabelle Leinyuy Nyuysemo and Tchoumboué Joseph
Abstract: The present study focused on identifying some of the factors which may be a significant source of variation for the duration between calving and first insemination (CFAI), the postpartum period also known as open days (OD) and calving intervals (CI) of crossbred dairy cattle in the western highlands of Cameroon. The crossbred cattle involved in this study were Jersey-White Fulani crosses, Holstein-Gudali crosses and their back crosses. Information on an interval of 7 years (1987-1993) from the database of IRAD Bambui Research Center were used in this study to distribute animals according to their reproductive performances. The General Linear Models procedures of SPSS 23 for windows were used to statistically analyze the data. Genetic and non-genetic factors such as germplasm, sex of the calf, parity of the dam, month of calving and service, season of calving and service, year of calving were found be a significant source of variation for the traits under analysis. Means for CFAI, OD and CI in this study were 72.23 ± 7.53 days, 76.18 ± 11.74 days and 345.60 ± 10.46 days (approximately 11.52 months) respectively. The average OD and CI recorded in this study for crossbred cattle were respectively lower than the 85-120 and 356 days researched in France. These observations showed that, it is possible to obtain inter-calving periods below or close to 365 days with crossbred dairy cattle with the condition to improve nutritional, reproductive and health management of animals. Holstein-Gudali crossbred dairy cattle had a better reproductive performances with crossbred dairy cattle having 50% and 75% of Holstein exotic blood (50%Hx50%G and 75%Hx25%G crossbred) recording the best performances. Thus, 50%Hx50%G recorded the best performances of 77.97 ± 9.69 days for CFAI. Moreover, 75%Hx25%G crossbred recorded the best performances of 102.54 ± 27.32 and 234.60 ± 28.56 days for OD and CI respectively. 12.6% of crossbred dairy cattle in this study had a CI length between 365 to 400 days, 58.3% had an earlier CI length below 365 days while 29.1% of this crossbred cattle had a late CI higher than 400 days. These results could be attributed to the performances observed with CIFAI and DO. 64.8% of crossbred dairy cattle involved in this study were inseminated before 60 days after calving and 62.2% of them conceived before 85 days postpartum. The high potential of Holstein crossbred dairy cattle observed trough good performances in CFAI, OD and CI as compared with Jersey crossbred in this study might be due to the better capacity of Holstein and thus their crossbred to adapt in difficult environment as in the tropics where exotic dairy cattle have a low resistant capacity to harsh conditions.
Pages: 27-35  |  937 Views  17 Downloads
How to cite this article:
Hakoueu Nzakou Blandine Flora, Aziwo Tatanja Niba, Bayemi Pougueu Henri Dieudonné, Isabelle Leinyuy Nyuysemo, Tchoumboué Joseph. Factors affecting reproductive performance of crossbred dairy cattle at the Bambui regional centre of the institute of agricultural research for development Cameroon. Int J Vet Sci Anim Husbandry 2019;4(4):27-35.
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