FAO ANIMAL PRODUCTION AND HEALTH PAPER   34

Cover
breeding plans for ruminant livestock in the tropics

TABLE OF CONTENTS


by

i.l. mason and v. buvanendran

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.


M-22
ISBN 92-5-101247-4


All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The authors would like to thank Dr. Helen Newton Turner for reading the manuscript and making many valuable suggestions. They are particularly grateful for the additions and amendments she made to the sections concerning sheep and goats.

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS
Rome © FAO 1982


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

LIST OF FIGURES

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Achievements in temperate countries

1.1.1 Improvement by breed replacement (grading up)

1.1.2 Improvement within breeds

1.2 Transfer of technology to tropical environments

1.2.1 Constraints on production in the tropics

1.3 Environment and breeding policy

1.4 Conservation

Chapter 2 RECORDING SYSTEMS

2.1 Performance recording

2.1.1 Recording for national level decisions

2.1.2 Herd level recording

2.1.3 Recording in the tropics

2.2 Recording in dairy cattle

2.2.1 Milk recording practices

2.2.2 Problems of milk recording in the tropics

2.2.3 Alternatives to official recording in the tropics

2.2.4 Milk composition

2.2.5 Alternatives to monthly recording

2.2.6 The problem of milk let-down in zebu herds

2.2.7 Other records

2.2.8 Records on the farm and production summaries

2.3 Beef recording

2.3.1 Background

2.3.2 Recording in developed countries

2.3.3 Recording of traits

2.3.4 Recording procedures in the tropics for suckler calf systems

2.4 Recording in sheep and goats

2.4.1 Background

2.4.2 Traits to be recorded

2.4.3 Recording procedures

Chapter 3 DATA PROCESSING

3.1 Correction for environmental effects

3.1.1 Correction factors

3.1.2 Use of correction factors

3.2 Environmental factors influencing production

3.2.1 Dairy cattle

3.2.2 Beef cattle

3.2.3 Sheep and goats

3.3 Estimation of breeding values

3.3.1 Dairy cattle

3.3.2 Beef cattle

3.3.3 Sheep and goats

Chapter 4 SELECTION PROGRAMMES

4.1 The place of selection programmes in genetic improvement

4.1.1 Background

4.1.2 Importance of selection in indigenous breeds in the tropics

4.1.3 Selection procedures in developed countries

4.2 Selection programmes in dairy cattle

4.2.1 The importance of selection programmes in tropical breeds

4.2.2 Selection programmes in developed countries

4.2.3 Selection in institutional herds in the tropics

4.2.4 Selection in new breed formation

4.2.5 Selection programmes in the absence of either AI or milk recording or both

4.3 Selection programmes in beef cattle

4.3.1 Background

4.3.2 Breed comparisons related to size

4.3.3 Selection schemes in developed countries

4.3.4 Important traits for tropical beef cattle

4.3.5 Selection programmes in the tropics

4.3.6 Dual testing for milk and beef

4.4 Selection programmes in sheep and goats

4.4.1 Background

4.4.2 Sheep improvement programmes in developed countries

4.4.3 Selection of sheep and goats in the tropics

4.4.4 Selection for reproductive rate in sheep and goats

4.4.5 A scheme for improvement of prolificacy and growth rate

4.4.6 Nucleus breeding scheme

4.4.7 Selection for milk and wool

4.4.8 Selection in goats

Chapter 5 IMPORTATION

5.1 Use of imports

5.2 Sex and age of animals to be imported

5.3 Which breed to import?

5.3.1 European dairy cattle

5.3.2 Tropical dairy breeds

5.3.3 Beef cattle

5.3.4 Buffaloes

5.3.5 Sheep

5.3.6 Goats

5.4 Purebreds or crossbreds?

5.5 How to select individuals

5.5.1 Dairy cattle

5.5.2 Beef cattle

5.5.3 Sheep

Chapter 6 CROSSBREEDING

6.1 Maintaining a crossbred population

6.1.1 New breed formation

6.1.2 Systematic crossbreeding

6.1.3 Use of crossbred sires

6.2 Choice of breeding system

6.3 Application to different classes of animals

6.3.1 Dairy cattle

6.3.2 Beef cattle

6.3.3 Sheep

6.3.4 Goats

REFERENCES

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1 Ecology and cattle breeding policy for commercial and subsistence farmers in Kenya

Table 4.1 Calculation of productivity indices

Table 6.1 Performance of Danish Red, Indian zebu (Sahiwal and Red Sindhi) and their crossbreds in Thailand

Table 6.2 Hybrid vigour in dairy cattle crosses in Sri Lanka as shown by decline from F1 to F2

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Average milk production of recorded cows in Sweden (1900–1980)

Figure 1.2 Average milk production of recorded cows in Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway

Figure 1.3 Average greasy wool weight - sheep and lambs N.S.W., Australia - Official figures, Australian Bureau of Statistics

Figure 2.1 Dairy record sheets

Figure 2.2 Birth records sheet

Figure 2.3 Treatment records sheet

Figure 4.1 Breeding plan at the National Sahiwal Stud, Naivasha, Kenya

Figure 4.2 Open nucleus breeding scheme

Figure 6.1 Crisscrossing (reciprocal backcrossing) between temperate and tropical breeds

Figure 6.2 Rotational crossing between temperate and tropical breeds

Figure 6.3 Strategic options involving crossbreeding and selection

Figure 6.4 A model for differential heterosis and additive effects of two breeds in good and poor environments

Figure 6.5 Regression of least squares breed group constants for estimates of most probable milk producing ability on fraction of Friesian breeding (data from Military Dairy Farms in India)

Figure 6.6 Body weight of Boran, Red Poll and their reciprocal crosses in Uganda