Enhancing production through optimized sire evaluation methods in Tharparkar cattle: Insights from arid regions of India

Abstract

First lactation records of 91 Tharparkar cows, offspring of 10 sires, were analyzed using four sire evaluation methods: Simple Daughter’s Average (D), Contemporary Comparison (CC), Least-Squares Method (LSM), and Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP). The study estimated variance components and breeding values for first lactation traits: milk yield, lactation length, and dry period. Results showed varying average breeding values among methods for milk yield (1849.10 kg to 1860.03 kg), lactation length (285.82 days to 291.33 days), and dry period (146.45 days to 156.07 days). LSM demonstrated the lowest error variance and highest coefficient of determination, indicating its superior efficiency in sire evaluation compared to BLUP. High rank correlation between LSM and BLUP further supported their similarity in sire ranking.