Tuli cattle

Abstract: Pedigree yearling records from 1021 local Tuli calves born at Matopos Research Station were analyzed for non genetic factors, genetic parameers and trends on the yearling weight. It was found that sre year of brth, sex of calf age of dam had sgnfcant effect (p Keywords: Non genetic, Direct, Maternal trends, Yearling weight, Growth traits, Tuli cattle

Abstract: The broad groups of cattle in Africa are discussed in relation to the main ecological zones. It is indicated how the lack of published information on livestock breeding work in the continent has led to a project assembling all available information reported in non-conventional form; to the collaborative evaluation of breeding research operations; and to development of a microcomputer based performance recording system specifically designed for use in livestock research and development situations in Africa. Breeding results discussed indicate that indigenous breeds are well adapted to local environments, and that any increase in genetic potential of these breeds can be exploited only if nutritional, disease and climate stresses are reduced.

Abstract: Genetic and non-genetic factors were estimated for birth weight in the Tuli cattle breed of Zimbabwe. Performance records ( n = 1154) were obtained from the Livestock Identification Trust (LIT) for the period (2008–2014) for three farms; X ( n = 494), Z ( n = 143) and Y ( n = 517). We used the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) for fitting the Sire model. The model used the farm, season, sex, year and dam age as fixed effects while the sire was fitted as a random variable. Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) was used to predict breeding values (BVs). The mean birth weight was (30.89±0.128). Wet season had higher birth (31.62±0.27) weight than dry season (30.62±0.144); however, the difference was not statistically significant. The other factors, farm, sex, year and dam age had a significant effect (P <0.05) on birth weight. Heritability and repeatability estimates were 0.44 and 0.35, respectively. Based on the results, the high heritability estimate for birth weight suggests that the trait responds well to selection. Sire breeding values ranged from -4.400 to 6.845 with the majority of sires between -2 and 2, showing that there was stabilising selection over the years to minimise both overweights and underweights.