Multivariate Analysis on Reproductive and Productive Traits of Egyptian Buffaloes

Abstract

Reproductive indices including age of first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI), days open (DO), and number of services per conception (S/C) have vital role in assessing the breeding efficiency. Moreover, productive traits including milk yield and lactation period are significantly affected by reproductive indices. Therefore, the study was design to illustrate the variations in reproductive and productive traits of Egyptian buffaloes using multivariate analysis. Records of 887 Egyptian buffalo were gathered from a study farm in Egypt's Ismailia Province. Using version 26 of the statistical package for social science software, all data were subjected to multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) (SPSS V. 26.0). Our findings indicated that Egyptian buffaloes who calved in the winter produced more milk (2250.09 kg) than those that calved at other times of the year, but that the summer calvers produced the least milk (2117.58 kg). The buffaloes with CI >15-month (2290.76 kg), DO between 201-300 days (2300.57 kg), and three or more services (2411.73 kg) had the highest MY. Animals with DP < 167 days had the largest milk output (2260.9 kg), whereas those with DP <167 days had the lowest AFC (28.54 month), CI (13.57 month), and DO (150.49 days). Furthermore, highly milk producer buffaloes more than 3000 Kg had prolonged CI and DO.  In conclusion, reproductive traits adversely affect the milk production that was distinguished via the retardation of breeding efficiency traits in highly milk producers’ Egyptian buffaloes. Therefore, attention should be paid to overcome the economic losses to improve this industry.