Crossbreeding of German Brown X N’dama Cattle at Ibadan – II – Pattern of Reproductive Performance of the Purebreds and Crossbreds

Abstract

A crossbreeding programme between purebred German brown and N’dama was carried out at the University of Ibadan Teaching and Research farm between 1970 – 1988. Reproductive data of 537 purebred and crossbreds’ records from the programme were used for this analysis involving purebred German brown (GBP), purebred N’dama (NDL), 75% N’dama-bred, 50% N’dama-bred, 37.5% N’dama-bred and 25% N’dama-bred based on the level of N’dama gene inheritance. The least square means and analysis of variance procedure for unequal subclass number as outlined by SAS (1990) was used in the analysis. Calving rate (%) of the 50% and 75% N’dama inheritance were 53.04% and 51.06% respectively and significantly (P<0.05) better than calving rate for all other genotypes, which were significantly (P>0.05) not different from each other. However, age at first calving for 37.5%-, 25%- and 50% N’dama-bred were 26.72 months, 31.23 months and 33.96 months respectively, and were significantly (P<0.05) younger than those of the exotic German brown (40.12 months), 75% N’dama crossbred (42.05 months) and local N’dama (43.65 months). Calving interval (months) for crossbreds 37.5%-, 75%- and 50% N’dama-bred were 11.41 months, 12.01 months and 12.81 months respectively, were significantly (P<0.05) shorter than German brown, 25% N’dama-bred and N’dama cows with intervals of 15.85 months, 15.91 months and 15.97 months respectively. This study concluded that 75% N’dama-bred and 50% N’dama-bred including 37.5% N’dama-bred performed better than the purebreds and 25% N’dama-bred cows. The finding suggested improved performance with moderate-high N’dama inheritance.