Reproductive Performance of White Fulani, N`dama and Their Crossbred in a Hot Humid Environment

The reproduction records of a herd of White Fulani (WF), N`dama (ND) and their crossbreds (WFXND), raised semi-intensively at Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Teaching and Research Farm, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria were evaluated within a 9 year period (1997-2005) of study. Parameters considered were age at first calving, calving interval, calving rate, birth weight and weaning weight. Results showed that all parameters investigated differed significantly (p< 0.05) among genotype groups. Age at first calving (months) was similar (p>0.05) for White Fulani (48.88±0.16) and the crossbred WFxND (48.77±0.21) but differed significantly (p< 0.05) with the value obtained for N`dama (38.22±0.26). Calving Interval (CI) (days) was comparatively higher (p< 0.05) for N`dama than for either White Fulani (446.88±0.16) or the crossbred WFxND (488.77±0.12), however, the difference between the CI values obtained for White Fulani and the WFxND was not significant (p>0.05). Birth and weaning weights (kg) were 19.66, 79.88; 13.93, 63.66 and 17.33, 70.88 for White Fulani, N`dama and WFxND, respectively. These values differed significantly (p< 0.05 among treatments. The White Fulani performed comparatively better than either the N`dama or the crossbred (WFxND). It would appear in this study that the crossbreds performed relatively better than the N`dama in most of the reproductive parameters measured.