PHENOTYPIC AND GENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF ERASHY CATTLE TYPE IN EL-GASH AREA (KASSALA STATE-SUDAN

Abstract

This research was conducted to scrutinize phenotypic and .genotypic characterization of Erashy cattle Hindered twenty Questionnaire (120 forms) was used to evaluate performance of Erashy cattle herd under village condition in March to August 2010. At north Delta El-gash locality in order to give a detailed picture of the Erashy cattle type and the production system under which it performs. The data were analyzed by Statistical Package .(for Social Sciences (SPSS The results revealed that (86.7%) of the respondents claimed that natural pasture is not available. Majority of 5 animal owners indicated that there is a lack of potable water and mal-distribution of its points especially in the summer. Breeding method was natural service (100%). Percentage (off-take) weak(4%).The withdrawn majority of the from each herd respondents is (80%) indicated that the age of puberty of Erashy cattle was 4 years, the age at first calving was 5 years, gestation length was(285days), first post-calving eostrus (90 days); calving interval was 1-3years. (56.7%) of the respondents said, the fertility is medium. (60.8%) of respondents reported that lactation period of Erashy cattle type was 180 days. (28.3%) of animal owners indicated that the total milk yield per lactation period of Erashy cattle type under field condition was800Kg. (44.2%) of animal owners explained that daily milk yield of Erashy cattle was .((5.3Kg). Illiteracy is a major problem in the area (83.5% Body measurements data were done for fifty one cows divided into three groups on the basis of number of calving. Data was analyzed by using completely randomized design to compute analysis of variance. For meaningful comparison, least significant difference (LSD) test were performed. Analysis of variance revealed that there were no significant differences among animals under this study except some of them, like Heart girth and Pelvic width at significant differences (P<0.05). The overall averages of body measurements (cm) as height at withers, heart girth, barrel circumference, chest depth, chest skin sickness, back length, pelvic width, neck length, body length, ear length , horn length, face length, 6 tail length, anterior udder length, posterior udder length, udder base length, cranial teats length, caudal teats length, pin bone width, dewlap depth, height at rump, neck skin sickness, body weight were 123.4, 149.0 ,203.1, 58.3, 0.58, 63.24., 34.4, 33.39, 138.43, 22.60, 20.55, 47.89, 89.33, 10.08, 16.76, 19.58, 4.53, 4.53, 14.00, .14.06, 130.78,0.56cm and 269.67kg respectively Animal's conformation data were collected from118 mature cows. The coat colors of the cattle was white, bright red brown, and multi - color, and represented 63%,5% and 32% respectively. Black eyes, black eyelids, white eyelids, brown eyelids, white eyelashes, black eyelashes, black tip hair, brown hoof, black hoof, brown muzzle, black muzzle, represented (95%),54%, 33%, 13%, 68.6%, 31.4%, 70%, 40.7%59.3%, 40%and60% .respectively Dewlap is well developed in all studied animals and goes down in front of the forelegs forming few folds, and it is predominant in both sexes. Hump extended in male and restricted in female, and may be cervical or cervico– thoracic. The basic temperaments of the animals .concerned were docile and aggressive The experiment was carried to assess the effect of feed level in some productive and reproductive performance at the Department of Animal Production - Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources- (New Halfa) - Kassala .University - October2010 to October, 2011 In this trial twenty heifers in age3-3.5 years old (settle heifers) in white color (which are assumed to be pure 7 Erashy) as revealed in order to obtain baseline data. The animals were divided into four groups according to the diet levels. The analyzed data revealed that the dietary level of concentrate had Significant effect (p≤o.o5) on performance of experimental heifers regarding, feed intake, average growth rate, bi-weekly weight gain, total body weight gain(kg), final body weight(kg), and feed .conversion efficiency The results indicated that the diet level had significant effect on the heifer's onset puberty. Results showed strong negative correlations between age at puberty and body weight (-0.206). Diet levels effect on successful .conception occurrence Genotypic characterization of Erashy cattle type and to assess their relationship with other breeds, at Department of Biology-Central Laboratory-Ministry of Science and Communication. The RAPD-PCR method was performed on blood samples taken from 75 animals, (25 from each of the three breeds namely Erashy, Kenana and Butana). Six arbitrary 10-mer primers were used to detect the DNA polymorphisms in the whole genome and filter paper .samples Two hundred and twenty nine fragments were amplified using six primers. The average of genetic distances among three cattle breeds which calculated according to the RAPD bands obtained with six primers ranged from( 0.59 -0.64). According to the dendrogram and cluster analysis of RAPD data the results from the phylogenetic analysis indicated that the populations of Erashy cattle breed is 8 more genetically closer to the population of Butana cattle .breed than to population of Kenana cattle breeds The conclusion of this study indicated that Erashy cattle may be sub-type of Butana cattle. Such high level of genetic differentiation within the Sudanese cattle population leads to the speculation that they might belong to different breeds despite their having the same name and similar morphological traits. This recommended that genetic characterization of these cattle needs to be clarified in the future by more specific molecular .techniques