The Role of Conformational Traits on Dairy Cattle Production and Their Longevities - Open Access Library Journal

OALibJ > Vol.2 No.3, March 2015

The Role of Conformational Traits on Dairy Cattle Production and Their Longevities ()

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DOI: 10.4236/oalib.1101342 5,684 Downloads 10,404 Views Citations

Author(s)

Addis Getu¹, Godadaw Misganaw²

Affiliation(s)

¹University of Gondar, Gondar, Ethiopia.
²Aksum University, Shire Campus, Aksum city, Ethiopia.

ABSTRACT

The dairy industry faces a unique challenge to constantly improve functionality of the dairy cows to meet the needs of future production and reproduction demands. The basis of improvements is selection of the best animals. The accuracy of selection can be increased by using the combined analysis of both direct information on herd life and indirect information obtained from conformation traits. Generally, conformation traits are important in dairy cattle development. These traits are used for selection of animals through creating the predict equation based on the independent variable and assuring selection of the superior animal with its important trait. The functional conformation traits that influence or facilitate the longevity and reproduction status of dairy cows are the appearance of udder conformation, feet and leg conformation, thoracic and abdominal body conformation, and rump and loin structure. The relationship between conformation traits with milk production and reproduction traits might be different among breeds, which could have implications for the use of conformation traits in different dairy cattle breeding programmes. The estimated correlations between longevity and different conformation traits are also varying with breeds.

KEYWORDS

Dairy Cattle, Conformation Trait, Longevity

Share and Cite:

Getu, A. and Misganaw, G. (2015) The Role of Conformational Traits on Dairy Cattle Production and Their Longevities. Open Access Library Journal, 2, 1-9. doi: 10.4236/oalib.1101342.

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