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Apr 19, 2023Keywords:
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Factors influencing reproductive and calf growth performance of Sanga cows in the Ashanti Region, Ghana
Abstract
A three-year study was conducted to determine the effect of non-genetic factors on the reproduc-tive and calf growth performance of Sanga cows in the Ashanti of Ghana. One hundred and twen-ty-three (123) Sanga cows were purposively sampled for the study using a longitudinal design. Factors considered in assessing the reproductive and calf growth traits included sex of calf, parity of dam, season of calving, body condition score and level of feed supplementation. Data were ana-lyzed using the Generalized Linear Model procedure of SPSS version 25. Results obtained indicat-ed that sex of calf influenced (p < 0.01) calving interval (CI), weaning weight (WW) and pre-weaning growth rate (PWG) but had little effect (p > 0.05) on the subsequent number of services per conception (NSPC), gestation period (GP), postpartum interval (PPI), and weaning age (WA). Parity of dam, except for GP, NSPC, CI, WW and PWG, which were insignificantly (p > 0.05) af-fected, masked PPI, birth weight (BW), and WA. The postpartum interval was high at parity one, reduced from parity two to five and then assumed an increase with increasing parity up to parity seven. The birth weight and pre-weaning growth rate increased with increasing parity. Apart from GP, season had little effect (p > 0.05) on all other traits assessed. Body condition score (BSC) also affected (p < 0.01) all traits except WA. Feed supplementation significantly (p < 0.01) improved AFH, GP, AFC, and WA but had little influence (p > 0.05) on NSPC, CI, PPI, BW, WW, and PWG. It was concluded that management of body condition through feed supplementation im-proved most reproductive performances in Sanga cows.
