Reproductive Traits of Major Dairy Animals of India: A Field Level Study in Breeding Tract

Abstract

India possesses 55 registered cattle breeds and 22 registered buffalo breeds, which support national milk production. Reproductive parameters are key determinants of dairy productivity; however, field-level evidence remains scarce for major Indian cattle and buffalo breeds. The present study evaluated reproductive traits, including age at first calving (AFC), the maximum number of calvings recorded, and the number of services per conception (NSC), in Gir, Sahiwal, and Tharparkar cattle; HF-crossbred cattle; and Murrah and Jaffarabadi buffaloes from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat. A sample of 1,471 animals was obtained using a snowball sampling technique during 2021–22 and 2022–23 through household recall rather than continuous farm records. AFC and NSC were analysed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and a univariate general linear model (GLM), with breed and lactation group as fixed effects. AFC differed significantly among breeds, being lowest in HF-Cross cattle (973.4±70.3 days) and highest in Murrah buffaloes (1445.4±116.8 days), with intermediate values for Sahiwal (1117.8±81.2 days), Gir (1190.1±80.9 days), Tharparkar (1260.4±92.5 days), and Jaffarabadi (1388.0±92.6 days) (p < 0.001). Field observations showed a maximum of 12 calvings in Gir, Sahiwal, Tharparkar, Jaffarabadi, and Murrah, compared with 11 in HF-Cross cattle. NSC increased from 1.65±0.56 in early lactation to 2.19±0.59 in middle lactation and 2.57±0.64 in late lactation, indicating declining fertility with advancing lactation. Overall, NSC was highest in Jaffarabadi (2.34±0.75) and Murrah (2.19±0.62) and lowest in Sahiwal (1.81±0.59) and Gir (1.87±0.64). The GLM revealed significant effects of breed, lactation group, and their interaction on NSC, underscoring substantial variation in reproductive performance across breeds and lactation stages under farmers’ field conditions. These findings support breed- and lactation-specific breeding and management strategies, such as intensified reproductive monitoring of buffaloes in middle-to-late lactation, to improve dairy herd fertility and farm profitability in Indian dairying systems.