CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Campus– Kaul (Kaithal) Haryana.
In the modern dairying, the cow is under extreme pressures than her predecessors for high production as well as body and strength to sustain it over a long time. The body conformation is equally important as production phenotype in determining the length of herd life of a dairy cow. The present study was conducted to appraise the functional type traits of Hariana cattle and their associations with performance traits. Hariana cows were scored for 13 type traits on a 50 points scale, using linear functional type trait appraisal programme. The data were analyzed through a linear mathematical model containing stage of lactation as a fixed effect and age at first calving and age at scoring as covariates and random effects. The distribution of cows across various classes of type scores revealed a normal distribution with mean scores of linear type traits varied from 72.21+0.77 to 81.38+0.54 points. Maximum variability was found for stature of cows (16.10%) and least was for udder depth (10.09%). Stage of lactation affected significantly stature, chest and body, suspensory ligament and udder depth. Differences due to age at first calving were significant (P<0.05) for all traits except pelvic angle and udder depth whereas age at scoring also affected all the type traits except pelvic angle. The heritability estimates of linear type traits ranged between 0.09+0.18 and 0.81+0.29 and indicated large additive genetic variability for some traits. The phenotypic associations of most of linear type traits with milk yield were moderate to high in magnitude. It was observed that the inclusion of linear functional type traits in selection programmes will go a long way for the improvement and conservation of indigenous germplasm.
