MILK PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF HF X GIR HALFBRED

Abstract

The data on milk production performance of 342 HF X Gir halfbreds having 1039 lactations were collected from records maintained at Research Cum Development Project on Cattle, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri (Maharashtra) over a period of 40 years (1974 to 2013). The overall least squares means of 300 days milk yield, lactation length, peak milk yield and number of days required to attain peak milk yield in HF X Gir halfbred was 3351.77 ± 40.46 kg, 335.33 ± 2.38 days, 16.52 ± 0.15 kg and 39.19 ± 0.41 days respectively. The effect of period of calving was significant on all traits. Lactation order significantly influenced 300 DMY and peak milk yield. Phenotypic correlations of lactation length, (0.10) and peak milk yield (0.20) with 300 days milk yield were positive and significant (P<0.01). Heritability of 300 days milk yield, lactation length, peak milk yield and days to attain peak milk yield in HF X Gir halfbred were 0.89 ± 0.14 and 0.02 ± 0.10, 0.58 ± 0.13 and 0.22 ± 0.12 respectively.