Influence of season on peak milk yield in Deoni breed of cattle in Marathwada region of Maharastra state

2^nd International Conference on Animal & Dairy Sciences

September 15-17, 2014 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

B N Thorat, B M Thombre, D V Bainwad and A V Dadge

Posters: J Veterinar Sci Technolo

Abstract :

India is a tropical country with hot and humid summer and relatively less stressful winter season. Change in climate is stressful for livestock. The summers are very hot and winters are very cold but at present the main factors affecting the climate is global warming. In the present investigation the sixteen years data (1995-2010) on daily peak milk yield of cows calved during cold, hot, south-west monsoon and post monsoon season each for twelve month in year and climatic attributes like temp. (max. and min.), humidity (max. and min.), sunshine hours and Temperature Humidity Index during corresponding period were collected. Daily peak milk yield data were analyzed statistically to see the effect of climatic attributes and to know their association with peak milk yield. Generally post monsoon climatic condition favors the milk production in animals due to pleasant climate and availability of quality fodder. The average daily peak milk yield of Deoni cows was 2.60 kg. It can be inferred that apart from availability of quality nutritious fodder during different seasons, maximum peak milk yield was recorded during post monsoon season (2.77 kg) followed by south-west monsoon season (2.69 kg), cold season (2.65 kg) and hot season (2.30 kg), respectively. The climatic factors like maximum temperature, minimum temperature, maximum humidity, minimum humidity and Temperature Humidity Index had shown negative non-significant association with peak milk yield, while sunshine hours and wind velocity had shown positive significant association with peak milk yield. Thus it is concluded that there were favorable effect of post monsoon climate on peak milk yield in Deoni cattle.