Genetic improvement of Sahiwal cattle through associated herd progeny testing programme

The breed improvement programme of Sahiwal cattle is implemented under AICRP on Cattle through associated herd progeny testing aiming for their conservation and propagation, and improvement in milk production. The production of frozen semen doses of genetically superior young bulls are being done at germplasm (GP) unit located at NDRI, Karnal and frozen semen doses of the bulls are supplied to all Sahiwal data recording (DR) units for test mating. During the last 11 years, 35 bulls in four sets have been inducted under the programme for test mating. First set of eight Sahiwal bulls were evaluated on the basis of 123 first lactation 305-days records of their daughters born during the period between 2011 and 2013 using Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) method. The BLUP model included the Herd-year- season effect as fixed factor and sires as random factor. The overall average estimated breeding value (EBV) was 1957.76 kg and the values of bulls ranged between -16.84 (-0.86) to +31.98 (+1.63) kg. It was also recommended to use the frozen semen doses of two top ranked Sahiwal bulls for nominated mating for producing young male calves for increasing the milk production in subsequent generations. The results also revealed that the performance of Sahiwal cattle has improved over the years due to the implementation of the project, and continuous and sincere efforts are essential to propagate this valuable germplasm.