MULTI-TRAIT SELECTION FOR GENETIC IMPROVEMENT IN INDIAN BUFFALOES

Records on 1753 buffaloes belonging to three genetic groups i.e. Murrah, graded Murrah and Nili Ravi from six military dairy farms of north India were used for the study. Variables considered for construction of selection index were AFC ( age at first calving in months), WFC ( weight at first calving in kg), FLP ( first lactation period in days), FCI ( first calving interval in days), FLMY ( first lactation milk yield in kg), AFLMY ( average milk yield per day of first calving interval in kg), PFL ( profit in first lactation in Rs.) and APFL ( average profit per day of first calving interval in Rs.). In all, 23 standard multi-trait selection indices were constructed using different combinations of the above mentioned traits. Maximum genetic improvement in FLMY (433.67 kg) was by the index incorporating all the eight traits while PFL was maximum (Rs. 34381.0) by the index 7 which incorporated only three traits i.e. AFLMY, PFL and APFL. Based on expected genetic economic gain it was concluded that the selection index for buffaloes could be either 7607.6 AFLMY +0.063 PFL + 52715.5 APFL or -117.64 AFC+ 3.21 WFC + 26.60 FLP + 118.50 FCI-4.88 FLMY-26180.0 AFLMY + 0.066 PFL = 31782.0 APFL.