Breeding efficiency of Indigenous × Jersey,Indigenous × Jersey × Friesian crossbred cows at Livestock Development Research Centre,Muzaffarabad,Azad Jammu and Kashmir

The primary objective ofthis study was to improve the reproductive efficiency ofindigenous cattle of azad jammu and kashmir at livestock development research center (ldrc) by crossing with european breeds. the indigenous heifers were impregnated with jersey semen and f1 crossbred were produced. the f1 offspring were crossed among themselves (inter se mating) to obtain the f2 offspring and simultaneously the f1 cows were crossed with friesian bull to produce three-breed crossbred cows. the number of cows for each group were 37 for indigenous,25 for f1 (indigenous × jersey) cross,8 for f2 (f1 × f1) cross and 14 for f1 × friesian cross. the highest breeding efficiency was observed in f1 (93.68 ± 1.85 %) and f2 (93.71 ± 2.74 %) and increased highly significantly (p < 0.0001) compared to indigenous cows (73.46 ± 2.50 %). the mean breeding efficiency off1 × friesian (65.62 ± 3.05 %) did not differ significantly from that of indigenous cows (p = 0.0870). the jersey breed was found to be suitable for improving the breeding efficiency of indigenous cows of hilly areas of azad jammu and kashmir. © pakistan academy of sciences.