Estimation of additive and maternal covariance of production traits in Murrah buffalo.

The study was done to determine additive, maternal and common permanent environmental effects and best-suited model for some production traits using six univariate animal models that differed in the (co)variance components fitted to assess the importance of maternal effect using likelihood ratio test in Murrah buffaloes. Data from 614 Murrah buffaloes related to production traits were collected from history pedigree sheets maintained at the buffalo farm, Department of Livestock Production and Management (LPM), LUVAS, Hisar. The production traits under this study were 305 days milk yield (305DMY), peak yield (PY), lactation length (LL), dry period (DP), lactation milk yield (LMY) and wet average (WA).

Estimation of direct and maternal covariance along with genetic and phenotypic trends of reproduction traits in Murrah buffalo.

The research utilized data from 662 Murrah buffaloes meticulously recorded over 24 years (1996-2019) from historical pedigree sheets maintained at the buffalo farm of the Department of Livestock Production and Management (LPM) at Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (LUVAS), Hisar. A series of six univariate animal models were employed to calculate estimates of (co)variance components and heritability for first lactation reproduction traits. Among these models, Model 2 was identified as the best fit for age at first calving (AFC) and calving interval (CI), while Model 1 proved optimal for service period (SP) and conception rate (CR).