Growth Potential of Dhanni cattle under rain fed conditions of Punjab , Pakistan

Abstract Text: The objective of the present study was to investigate growth potential of Dhanni cattle (a local humped cattle used for light draught) for possible utilization as potential beef cattle in arid or rain fed region of  Attock, Punjab, Pakistan. Data on live weight of cattle (N=185: 105 Male, 80 Females; Age ranged from 1 to 375 days) were recorded in the field from thirty registered farmers raising purebred Dhanni cattle. The overall  production system consisting of grazing (from 8:00AM to 5:00 PM daily) with little or no supplementation. Mostly farmers weaned the calves between 6 and 8 months of lactation probably due to low milk yield of Dhanni cows. Age of cattle was divided into 11 monthly classes with the last class having days 301 to 375. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS (University Edition). The model included fixed effects of age at of cattle on test-day and sex; random effects of herd and residual. Males had slight higher weights (73.94 ± 1.81) than females (71.77 ± 1.97) but overall effect of sex was statistically non significant (P = 0.33). Estimates of herd and residual variances were 18.15 and 206.35, respectively. Live weight of cattle varied with age (P < 0.0001). The least squares estimates of means of live body weight (kg) for monthly age classes 1 (1-30 days), 2 (31 to 60 days) and so on  to 11 (301-375 days) were 24.86 ± 2.60, 39.31 ± 3.18, 51.68 ± 4.62, 61.86 ± 2.90, 72.27 ± 3.67, 75.49 ± 3.65, 80.19 ± 3.93, 81.97 ± 5.04, 97.45 ± 4.25, 98.80 ± 6.12 and 117.49 ± 5.41, respectively. Overall, cattle showed a daily growth rate of 268.50g from one month to approximately twelve months of age. The data shows potential of Dhanni cattle for raising as a beef cattle using current genetic and genomic selection tools. 

Keywords: Dhanni cattle, growth potential, field condition