MORPHOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS AND THEIR HERITABILITIES FOR SAHIWAL CATTLE IN PAKISTAN - M. A. Khan; M. S. Khan; A. Waheed (Journal of Animal and Plant Sciences, 2018)
Morphological measurements are the characteristics needed to describe morphology of animals. The present study was conducted on Sahiwal cattle of Pakistan to investigate body dimensions and to find their genetic control. The body measurements were recorded on 310 Sahiwal cows kept at three livestock farms. The freshly calved lactating cows from parity first to five were included. Measurements were recorded three times; at early, mid and end of lactation period. Pedigree file was generated from available records in order to estimate heritabilities. Animal model using REML procedure was employed for estimating variance components and heritabilities through ASREML software. Most of the body measurements presented medium to high genetic control on them. Heritability estimates ranged from 0.52±0.04 (neck length) to 0.95±0.01 (naval length and tail length). The heritability estimates were more than 0.70 for body length, diagonal body length, ear width, dewlap width, rump width (Hook to hook), rump width (Pin to pin), rump length (Hook to pin), height at wither, height at sixth rib, height at last rib, height at spine, height at hook bone and height at pin bone. This amount of genetic control revealed that selection for some of body measurements could be effective and the body frame of Sahiwal cattle can be molded according to desire through genetic selection.
Keywords: journal article; Sahiwal cattle; morphological measurements; heritability; genetic control; animal model