Exclusive Characteristics of the Bhag Nari Cattle among the Other Indigenous Cattle Breeds of Pakistan

Present study was conducted on Bhag Nari cattle (n=1020) to assess their biometric traits as well as some of their performance traits in Baluchistan province of Pakistan. Bhag Nari cattle are native to the town and are kept at Government Livestock Farm at Ustta Muhammad near Sibi in Baluchistan for breed improvement purpose. Biometric data of the Bhag Nari cattle present at its natural habitat like Ustta Muhammad, Kacchi and Bhag peripheral villages of these districts area of Baluchistan was collected. Biometric traits data were collected from each district included 5 villages and 20 household randomly selected in every village keeping different number of animals in their houses. A very comprehensive information regarding its habitat, breeding, feeding, housing, management, production system, health/vaccination, utility pattern and the constraints like poor selection system, poor feeding and management system was also collected.

Qualitative (morphological) characteristics included sex, coat color, horn shape, hump, tail color, hooves color and fore head color.

Quantitative (physiological) characteristics; body weight in different age groups, measurement of body dimensions included males (n=495) females (n=525). Body measurements included body length, heart girth, chest girth, belly girth, fore head size, rump height, hump size, ear length, ear width and horn length and distance between the poles.

Information about production and management system, calving, season, and sex ratio was also collected. It is also includes the phenotypic characters such as body color, hump color, body type, fore head color, tail color, ear type, ear color.

All the measurements were taken from animal with the help of measuring scale, especially designed for this purpose. Fixed effect model was employed for studying the influence of various factors on performance traits. The data were statistically analyzed by using Statistics’ software (Version 8.1) for descriptive statistics and ASReml for genetic parameters.

Morphological characteristics: The results of qualitative characteristics of Bhag Nari cattle (n=1050) are presented in Table I. This study revealed that Bhag Nari had compact and massive well-proportioned body, have long limbs, a medium head, ears are medium and pointed, and horns are stumpy black in color, whereas the whole body has grey and white complexion with a great look. Several diverse features have been found in Bhag Nari breed in this study. These characters are rare in other local breeds of the area such as tick resistance, to resist 50oC plus temperature in the hot weather nevertheless still gives good productive results, long limbs which protect them from very heated ground. The odor of BN animals sweat is so pungent that the ticks do not come nearby to them. The white color (natural absorbent), of the skin is natural reflector in an extreme weather, whereas, the inner coat of this animal has black lining (the natural insulator), provides an excellent insulation capability for the heat absorption. Additionally very large pendulous body skin like dewlap and naval flap provides larger skin surface area to the animals to protect them from an extreme weather conditions.

The overall means of productive performance of Bhag Nari cattle is presented in Table II. In both production systems, sex had a significant effect on growth performance. These are in agreement with the findings of Tariq (2011) and Mussarrat et al. (2015) and reported that sex had a significant difference on growth performance.

The results of Effect of Environmental Factors on Productive Performance are presented in Table III. Environmental factors such as age and year of birth had non-significant effects (P>0.05) for all weights. However, sex was found highly significant (P>0.01) for all weights.

YOB, Year of Birth; MOB, Month of Birth

Body measurements:Result of Least square means (Means±SE) of some Biometric performance of Bhag Nari cattle displayed in Table IV. In biometric traits, male had significant difference in height at wither, chest girth, rump height, body girth and finally the body weight as compared to female animals. Live body weights and carcass weight were higher in male significantly than females. Biometry is the most important portion of the physical traits (Sarkar et al., 2007; Sodhi et al., 2006; Tariq et al., 2013). Present results for body measurements confirmed findings of Acharya (1982), who analyzed the data on biometry, productive, reproductive performance and survival of (Juliann and Malpura) and (Sonadi) sheep of India, respectively. They concluded that male sheep were heavier in weight and higher in body measurements (body length, withers height, chest girth) when compared to female ones. Raziq et al. (2010) evaluated the productive performance of the five breeds of sheep prevailing in different parts of the Baluchistan province, observed to be significantly different among breeds (P>0.05) for withers height, body length and chest girth. Consistent growth performance was found in Mengali and Balochi compared to other breeds. They concluded that, genetic potential of breeds and environmental factors might lead to variations in productive and body measurements performance.

The results of factors effecting on Environmental on Biometric traits are presented in Table V.

For abbreviations, see Table III.

Biometric traits were affected by some non-genetic factors and were significantly differed between male and females. Wither height appeared to be affected significantly by year of birth while live weight was different for month of birth. Age had significant influence on body length and live weight. It was concluded that effective breed improvement program should be launched to exploit and improve this important animal genetic resource of Pakistan in it native place.

Authors have declared no conflict of interest.