PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCES OF BALANKYA, WANNERA AND WAGHYA STRAINS OF DEONI CATTLE

Present investigation was undertaken on Deoni, a dual purpose indigenous cattle breed, maintained at Livestock Research Centre of Southern Regional Station of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore. The study was performed to estimate the productive (Lactation length - LL and Lactation Milk Yield - LMY) and reproductive (Age at First Calving - AFC, Service Period - SP and Calving Interval - CI) performances of Balankya, Wannera and Waghya strains of Deoni cattle. Lactation milk yield of Balankya, Wannera and Waghya strains was estimated as 823.55 ± 79.78, 979.68 ± 77.94 and 1025.62 ± 100.66 kg in a lactation length of 194.59 ± 10.60, 229.51 ± 11.91 and 222.74 ± 14.09 days, respectively. Service period was estimated as 165.55 ± 9.71, 186.89 ± 12.04 and 190.14 ± 15.84 days, respectively. Dry period and calving interval of these strains were estimated as 250.77 ± 19.69 and 457.93 ± 12.10, 254.6 ± 16.11 and 480.08 ± 12.75 and 265.81 ± 24.57 and 476.61 ± 16.66 days, respectively. Least squares analysis of mean was performed to compare the performances of LL, LMY, AFC, SP and CI of these three strains of the breed of the cattle. Any significant difference of age at first calving, lactation milk yield, lactation length, service period, dry period and calving interval could not be observed among Balankya, Wannera and Waghya strains of Deoni cattle.