CHARACTERIZATION OF SOME PRODUCTIVE AND REPRODUCTIVE TRAITS OF SYRIAN SHAMI AND HOLSTEIN COWS UNDER SYRIAN CONDITIONS

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive and reproductive performances of Shami and Holstein cows under the Syrian conditions. In this study, 2654 and 4289 records were collected on 569 Shami and 1669 Holstein cows, respectively during the period from 1978 to 2015 of two experimental stations, Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, Syria. Data were analyzed using the General Linear Model (XLSTATE. 2020). Age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI), total milk yield (TMY), daily milk yield (DMY), and lactation period (LP) were significantly affected (p<0.01) by the breed. The least-square means for AFC, CI, TMY, DMY, and LP were 31±0.14 months, 442±2.83 days, 1587±34.89 kg, 9.1±0.09 kg and 165±2.0 days in Shami breed, respectively, compared to 28.1±0.10 months, 432±3.34 days, 5494±41.21 kg, 16.7±0.11 kg and 332±2.36 days in Holstein breed, respectively, under Syrian conditions. The present study revealed that Shami cows performed less estimates in all studied traits compared to the Holstein cows under the Syrian conditions. Successful management and genetic improvement for Shami cows could enhance their productive and reproductive performances.