Production and fertility performance of Barka cattle breed in the different agroecological zones of Eritrea

Abstract

This study was carried out to determine the milk yield (MY), growth (Gp) and fertility (Fp)
performances of Barka cattle breed reared in the two major agro-ecological zones (AEZs)
in Eritrea. The breed which is indigenous to Eritrea is mainly kept in crop-livestock system
in both zones implying similarity in production management. We thus hypothesized that
the effect of agro-ecological zone would significantly impact on the production and
reproduction performances of the Barka breed. Herds of 15 cows each were established
and maintained at Halhale and Shambuko research stations from which MY, Gp and Fp
data were obtained. The two sites are managed by the National Agricultural Research
Institute (NARI) of Eritrea and represented the highland and lowland AEZs, respectively.
General linear model (GLM) was used in the analysis with the age of a cow and calf sex
being fitted as fixed effects in determination of MY, Gp and Fp performances over two
lactations periods. The mean MY of cows for the two lactations period at Halhale and
Shambuko were 3.93±0.17 kg and 2.80±0.13 kg, respectively. There was no significant
difference in the average birth weight (BW) between the herds with male calves ranging
between 22.19 kg in the first lactation and 23.03 kg in second lactation. There was no
significant difference in weaning weight as well and the average weight irrespective of age
of the dam which averaged 66.05±11.75 kg. The services per conception (SPC) averaged
1.2±0.43 while the average days open or post-partum anoestrus was 168±87 days. The
findings from this study provide valuable information useful in Barka breed utilization and
conservation efforts.