Vol. 7, Issue 10 (2018)

Author(s):
Shashank Kshandakar, Med Ram Verma, Yash Pal Singh and Sanjay Kumar

Abstract:
The present study was conducted on lactation data of Vrindavani cattle maintained at Cattle and Buffalo Farm, ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar over a period of 5 years (2010-2014). The aim of this study was to determine best fitted lactation curve model explaining the pattern of Vrindavani cattle milk production in different parity and calving season. The Cobby and Le Du model (CL), Mitscherlich x Exponential model (ME), Mixed log model (ML), Wilmink model (WL) and Wood model (WD) were fitted on DTDMY of 243 Vrindavani cattle. The best model was judged by five measures of goodness of fit viz., R²_adj, MAE, MSE, MSPE, AICc and BIC. Two-way repeated measure ANOVA was used to study the effect of calving season and parity on the milk production of Vrindavani cattle.Mixed log model was best fitted to DTDMY records of Multiparous Vrindavani cattle and Vrindavani cattle calving in the winter season. Mitscherlich cum Exponential model was best fitted to DTDMY records of Primiparous Vrindavani cattle and Vrindavani cattle calving in summer and rainy season.The Vrindavani cattle calving in winter season produced 13.53% and 6.12% more milk than Vrindavani cattle calving in summer season and rainy season respectively. The 4^th parity Vrindavani cattle were superior in milk production (305 DIM) and produced 15.65%, 12.44%, and 8.24% more milk than 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd parity cattle respectively.