Evaluation of the dairy and growth performance of Djelli cattle in the traditional environment of Niger

Abstract

The development of Djelli cattle breeding in Niger remains a challenge due to the limited information available on production performance. Therefore, conducting an evaluation of Djelli performance in its current breeding conditions in a traditional environment was deemed important. Evaluation of the production performance was carried out in three localities in the communes of Gothèye and Say in Niger. Manual milking followed by calf weighing was carried out on 81 farmers to determine their milk production. Descriptive statistical techniques such as mean and standard deviation wereestimated using SPSS software v21. To compare means, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey's multiple comparison test was also performed. The results revealed that average daily milk production obtained by farmers was 1.66±0.52 kg in the dry season, and 2.09±0.73 kg in the middle of the rainy season. Average production at peak lactation was 2.48 kg in the dry season, and 3.47 kg at the end of the rainy season. The weight of male calves was higher than females (P<0.001) at birth (21.68±1.74 kg for males versus 20.27±1.64 kg for females), at 1 month of age (30.17±1.98 kg for males versus 28.43±1.92 kg for females) and at 2 months of age (37.9±2.4 kg for males versus 35.27±3.01 kg for females). The average birth weight for both sexes was 20.93±1.82kg. The average daily gain (ADG) of male calves was also higher to that of females (P<0.001) (270.31±40.79 g in males versus 250±43.68 g in females). In conclusion these results are likely to serve as the basis for a selection program aimed at improving the performance of the Djelli zebu from Niger.