Productivity of Different Species of Dairy Animals in High Altitude Regions:A Geographical Analysis in Pulwama District of Jammu & Kashmir

The study was conducted to assess the existing productivity performance of indigenous and cross-bred cows like Holstein Friesians and Jersey cows in terms of milk yield, age at first calving, post-partum heat, lactation length, dry period, calving interval and lactation yield across different agro-ecological zones (AEZs) of Pulwama district, as these aspects have a profound influence on the efficiency of milk production. For this study, a total of 72 dairy cows were selected randomly from three agro-ecological zones of Pulwama district i.e., Flood Plain, Karewa and Kandi. Significant difference was found within the milk yield (p<0.01), age at first calving (p<0.01), post-partum heat (p<0.01), lactation length (p<0.01), dry period (p<0.01), calving interval (p<0.01) and lactation yield (p<0.01). It was observed that productive and reproductive efficiency of exotic species mainly Jersey and Holstein Friesian remain at the top followed by local/indigenous species. The study concludes that the cross-bred cows are better performers than the indigenous cows in dairy potentialities in the study area. It also reflects that due to robust launching of livestock hybridisation programme in the district, the number of livestock is rapidly being replaced by the cross-breeding animals in order to meet the growing milk demand of the population.