Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani - 431 402, India.
*Address for correspondence: Dr. K.R. Mitkari, Cattle cross breeding project, Marathwada Agricultural University, Parbhani - 431 402, India.
During the study the data were collected from 195 Holstein Friesian × Deoni halfbreds (F1) progeny over a period of 21 years (1974–1994). From the 195 halfbred females 639 lactations were considered for evaluation. The data generated was divided into seven groups from G1 to G7 on the basis of age at first calving (AFC), along with the corresponding groupwise distribution for milk yield (MY), service period (SP) and intercalving period (ICP) for analysis. Further the effect of AFC on MY, SP and ICP were studied. The overall least squares means (LSM) for the MY, SP and ICP in Holstein Friesian × Deoni halfbreds were reported as 1585.835±24.460 kg, 162.315±5.555 days and 443.776±5.651 days, respectively. The effect of AFC on MY, SP and ICP was found to be highly significant. The higher AFC in Holstein Friesian × Deoni halfbreds lowered down the milk production considerably, whereas increased the SP and ICP upto certain extent.
