Characterization and evaluation of hill cattle of Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

A survey was conducted in 18 villages of Rudarpryag, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts of Garhwal region to characterize hill cattle in the region. A total of 146 farmers and 451 animals of different age and sex were covered in the present study. The survey revealed that there is large number of hill cattle in the region. Animals of were reared on semi intensive system of management. Grazing was from afternoon to evening during the whole year. Animals were smaller in size with cylindrical type of body. The black body colour predominates in the region. Udder was small, touching to the body, not well developed and milk veins were not prominent. Sizes of fore and rear udder were small. The ranges of different biometric traits showed that animals are similar to Vechur and Panganaur for their size and smaller than the Hariana and Sahiwal breeds of cattle. The average age at first calving, daily milk yield, lactation length, dry period, service period and calving interval were 42 months, 1.52 kg, 285 days, 120 days, 110 days and 364 days, respectively. A pair of bullock may plough about 4–6 Nali of land in 3 to 4 hours in a day. A total of 51 blood samples of unrelated hill cattle animals were collected from Garhwal region for genetic characterization. DNA was isolated and analyzed by a panel of 21 microsatellite markers. The average observed and expected number of alleles, observed and expected heterozygocity and heterozygote deficit were 12.91 (6–12), 5.66 (2.41 to 11.39), 0.699 (0.271 to 0.938), 0.782 (0.585 to 0.912) and 0.118 (−0.198 to 0.537), respectively. The different genetic diversity parameters showed that population is comparable with the hill cattle of Kumanu region and Hariana cattle. Different parameters showed sufficient allelic diversity in the population.