Vol. 10, Special Issue 3, Part A (2025)

Author(s): Laishram Brajagopal Singh, Dibyajyoti Talukdar, K Lalrintluanga, Fazal Ali Ahmed, Dipan Rudra Paul, Kalyan Sarma, TC Tolenkhomba, Y Damudor Singh and M Norjit Singh

Abstract: The indigenous cattle of Manipur known as Meetei San are medium size, stout, hardy and a dual-purpose and non-descript cattle. Due to its low productivity, the household and national economies are presently under-utilized, and populations leaving to extinction. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to study the various morphometric distinctiveness of local female cattle of Manipur. A total number of 40 (forty) Manipuri local female cattle were included in this experiment. The data were collected from their native tract of Imphal west and Imphal east districts of Manipur, India. To minimise erroneousness and avoid between-recorder effects, the two recordings of each measurement has been taken. A measuring tape was used to measure the circumference, and a mapping stick was used to measure the other dimensions. As per the findings, the averages of body length (Inch), heart girth (Inch), paunch girth (Inch), withers height (Inch), top length (Inch), face length (Inch), face breadth (Inch), horn length (Inch), poll length (Inch), ear length (Inch), neck length (Inch), arm length (Inch), elbow length (Inch), fore-shank length (Inch), thigh length (Inch), hind shank length (Inch), pes length (Inch), tail length (Inch), udder depth (Inch) and teat length (Inch) of local cattle of Manipur (Meetei San) was 41.65±0.82, 47.53±0.94, 50.50±1.15, 40.88±0.52, 53.00±1.22, 14.89±0.21, 8.20±0.17, 2.98±0.20, 4.11±0.12, 6.80±0.11, 10.56±0.17, 12.90±0.16, 10.68±0.18, 10.51±0.17, 10.48±0.18, 13.03±0.15, 13.08±0.15, 21.94±0.43, 4.10±0.12 and 1.78±0.05, respectively. In conclusion, the indigenous non-descript female cattle of Manipur are comparatively smaller in size than most of the recognized exotic and indigenous breeds of cattle. These cattle were having unique characteristic features and are different from the known breeds of India and abroad.