In order to achieve the objective, data pertaining to 171 Murrah buffaloes, progeny of 49 sires maintained at Buffalo Research Centre, Hisar were considered for the prediction of lifetime traits from early lactation traits over a period of 24 years from 1990 to 2013. The prediction of phenotypic values of lifetime performance traits viz. Life time milk yield (LTMY), Production life (PL), Milk yield per day of productive life (MY/PL), herd life (HL) and milk yield per day of herd life (MY/HL) were obtained. The equation having the combination of first five lactation traits is recommended for the prediction of phenotypic value of lifetime traits in Murrah buffalo. Accuracy of direct selection for LTMY, PL, MY/PL, HL and MY/HL was 0.42, 0.51, 0.33, 0.51 and 0.54, respectively. The index involving independent variables of first lactation early performance traits had an accuracy of 0.40, 0.39, 0.37, 0.19 and 0.37 for LTMY, PL, MY/PL, HL and MY/HL, respectively. Generally the first lactation milk yield, first peak milk yield and first calving intervals of all lactations contributed maximum to R2 value for all lifetime traits. Therefore, it may be concluded that selection on the basis of first lactation milk yield, first peak yield and first calving interval would also improve the lifetime performance.&nbsp;

Prediction of phenotypic value of lifetime performance traits on the basis of early performance traits in Murrah buffaloes

<div>Background: A large area of the maize production in Indo-Gangetic plains of India exposes alternative and combination of prolonged drought spells and heavy rainfall situation due to uncertainty of monsoon patterns. In such context, breeding for maize hybrids with cross-tolerant to both low and excess soil moisture stresses remain the ultimate alternative. 
 
Methods: Evaluation of 75 maize hybrids planted at Banaras Hindu University, India during the subsequent Rabi and Kharif seasons of 2017 and 2018, respectively. The hybrids were evaluated for acquiring information on inter-trait associations among yield and yield-related traits under different soil moisture regimes. The trials were planted in alpha-lattice design and managed stress was imposed and data recorded. 
 
Result: As our investigation was the evident of weak correlations among the traits studied, genotype &times; trait (GT) biplots are not advisable to select/ discard the genotypes under moisture stress conditions. The goodness of fit for GT biplots constructed under studied moisture conditions were almost poor because of fair to moderate correlations among the traits. To accomplish this problem of weak associations, genotype &times; yield &times; trait (GYT) technique was advisable to perform the precise selection of genotypes under studied environments. The investigation emphasized on accuracy and adequacy in implementing of GYT biplots for characterizing and selecting suitable hybrids.</div>

Study on Applicability of Genotype &times; Yield &times; Trait (GYT) Biplots over Genotype &times; Trait (GT) Biplots in Selection of Maize Hybrids across Soil Moisture Regimes

Harnali sheep is a new synthetic strain developed for superior carpet wool, better growth and adaptability. The present investigation was undertaken to evaluate the Harnali sheep for seven performance traits namely birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW), six month body weight (SMW) , yearling body weight (YBW), adult body weight (ABW), age at first lambing (AFL) and grease fleece weight (GFW) with a mixed model &nbsp;methodology. The overall least squares means for BW, WW, SMW, YBW, ABW, GFW and AFL were estimated as 3.51&plusmn;0.58 kg, 13.61&plusmn;0.22 kg, 19.45&plusmn;0.24 kg, 27.26&plusmn;0.31 kg, 37.90&plusmn;0.34 kg, 1662.65&plusmn;35.46 gm and 789.98&plusmn;10.40 days, respectively. The period of birth had significant effect on all the performance traits except GFW. The effect of sex was found significant on all the performance traits. The male lambs were significantly heavier than females at all ages. The effect of dam&rsquo;s age at lambing was found non-significant on all the performance traits but dam&rsquo;s weight at lambing significantly influenced all the performance traits and indicated heavier lambs born from heavier ewes. Heritability estimates were high for BW, WW, SMW, YBW, ABW and GFW as 0.68&plusmn;0.19, 0.49&plusmn;0.17, &nbsp;0.65&plusmn;0.15, 0.44&plusmn;0.17, 0.42&plusmn;0.17 &nbsp;and &nbsp;0.54&plusmn;0.17, respectively while moderate estimates was obtained for AFL as 0.38&plusmn;0.16. &nbsp;The phenotypic correlations of WW and SMW were significant and positive with BW, YBW and ABW with moderate to high in magnitude ranging from 0.22&plusmn;0.04 to 0.71&plusmn;0.07. The phenotypic correlation between BW and SMW was high and positive (0.71&plusmn;0.07). The genetic correlations among performance traits were low to high ranging from -0.03&plusmn;0.04 to 0.61&plusmn;0.12. Keeping in view the heritability and genetic correlations among performance traits it is concluded that SMW can serve as a good selection criterion in sheep at early age as it has high heritability and positive and high correlations with body weights at later ages and favourable correlation with age at first lambing.

Genetic analysis of performance traits in Harnali sheep

<div>Background: Milk production is one of the most important economic traits in dairy cattle. Crossing of zebu cattle (Bos indicus) with temperate cattle breeds (Bos taurus) was undertaken to improve the milk production in India. Crossbreeding has resulted in improved production performance of the dairy animlas over the past few decades. 
 
Methods: Data on 50 purebred Sahiwal cows from the Livestock Farm Complex, College of Veterinary Science, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad and 50 Holstein Friesian &times; Sahiwal crossbred cows maintained at the Military Dairy Farm, Secunderabad were utilized to study the influence of breed and parity on various production and reproduction traits. The various traits studied were: Total lactation milk yield (TLMY) Lactation length (LL), Peak yield (PY), Age at first service (AFS), Age at first calving (AFC), Gestation period (GP), Service period (SP), Dry period (DP) and Calving interval (Cl). 
 
Result: In the present study, significant effect of breed was found on the TLMY and PY with the crossbreds recording higher values for both the traits. The means for TLMY, PY, LL, GP, SP, DP and CI were 1768.32&plusmn;109.67 kg, 10.17&plusmn;0.50 kg, 304.41&plusmn;13.00 days, 277.71&plusmn;2.24 days, 182.60&plusmn;15.51 days, 167.47&plusmn;10.68 days and 430.23&plusmn;13.46 days in Sahiwal and 2983.45&plusmn;78.32 kg, 14.92&plusmn;0.36 kg, 324.71&plusmn;9.29 days, 275.34 days, 181.09&plusmn;10.91 days, 127.01&plusmn;7.51, 413.61&plusmn;9.47 days in crossbred cows respectively. It may be concluded that the productive performance of crossbred cows was better than that of indigenous cows.</div>

Production and Reproduction Performance of Sahiwal and HF &times; Sahiwal Cows

<div>Background: The use of wrapping material during storage of cut flowers creates a modified atmosphere which reduces flower metabolism during storage, thereby slowing carbohydrate consumption as respiratory substrate. The main problem related to dry storage is moisture loss or desiccation. Keeping in view the above aspects, the present study was conducted to enhance the shelf life of tuberose. 
 
Methods: The experiment was carried out at Post-Harvest Laboratory of Department of Horticulture, COA, CCS HAU, Hisar during the cropping season (March to September) of year 2019. It was laid out in CRD (factorial) with three replications and twenty-four treatment combinations, comprising of six wrapping materials (newspaper, butter paper, chart sheet, low density polyethylene of 100&micro;, high density polyethylene of 200&micro; and control as without wrapping) and four storage time (1, 4, 7 and 10 days), were tested. After harvesting, cut spikes were wrapped in wrapping materials and kept in cold-store at low temperature (less than 5&deg;C), thereafter cut spikes were placed in vase solution (4% sucrose plus 300 ppm 8-HQC) for recording observations on floral parameters.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Among different wrapping materials, the butter paper wrapped cut spikes observed better in most of the parameters followed by LDPE (100&micro;) wrapped cut spikes. Among the storage time, storage of cut spikes for 1 day observed better in most of &nbsp;the parameters except time taken up to opening of first pair of florets and total post-harvest life. Overall, butter paper wrapped cut spikes stored for 1 day performed better in term of floret diameter (46.73 mm), floret length (56.10 mm), floret longevity (2.89 days), appearance (3.70/5.0 scale), florets opened at a time (32.30%), total opened florets (54.32%), marketable vase life (6.53 days), total vase life (11.17 days), weight loss (17.08%) and solution consumed (135.33 ml) by the spikes. However, the cut spikes wrapped in butter paper stored for 10 days were found better with early opening of first pair of florets (0.95 days) and maximum post-harvest life (20.10 days).</div>

<div>Effect of Wrapping Materials and Storage Time on Shelf Life of Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.)</div>

<div>Background: The productivity of chickpea needs to be increased significantly to exploit the maximum benefit from the increasing world market demand for this crop. Hence, the objective of this study was to find suitable heterotic cross combinations for yield and yield related traits in chickpea.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: The present study on chickpea was conducted at Norman E. Borlaug Crop Research Centre, GBPUAT, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand, during rabi season of 2018-2019. It comprised a half-diallel set of seven diverse parents viz. PG5 and PG170 and five ICRISAT chickpea collections viz. ICC13124, ICC14778, ICC14815, ICC16348 and ICC16349 and their 21 F1 crosses were used for heterosis studies through 7&times;7 diallel analysis with respect to seed yield and other yield contributing traits.&nbsp; 
 
Result: Variance components of combining ability revealed that both additive and non-additive gene actions were important for yield and yield related traits. The parent ICC13124 was best general combiner for yield and related traits. It was also one of the parents in best specific combinations for seed yield. The crosses viz. PG170&times;ICC16349 (7.15), ICC13124&times;ICC14815 (3.22) and ICC13124&times;ICC14778 (3.00) were the best specific cross combinations for seed yield. The highest heterosis for seed yield was observed in cross PG170&times;ICC16349 (73.14%) followed by ICC13124&times;ICC14815 (43.17%) and ICC13124&times;ICC14778 (41.09%). The results showed direct association between the specific combining abilities of the crosses and heterotic response indicating the involvement of additive &times; additive type of interactions causing heterosis. Hence, the GCA, SCA and per se performance of the crosses should be given equal importance while selecting for heterotic combinations.</div>

Per se Performance and Heterosis in Relation to Gene Action for Seed Yield and Yield Related Traits in Chickpea

<div>Background: Performance evaluation is necessary for formulation of suitable breeding plans for genetic improvement in a population. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the production, reproduction performances and estimate the genetic parameter and genetic trend on 649 lactation records of 238 Sahiwal cows at an organized farm in Chhattisgarh. 
 
Methods: The analysis was performed by using fixed model in LSML. Genetic trend for traits was estimated through linear regression of breeding values over the years. 
 
Result: Least-squares means for total lactation milk yield (TLMY), 305day or less milk yield (305DMY), lactation length (LL), dry period (DP) and peak yield (PY) were 1385.1&plusmn;26.7 kg, 1331.4&plusmn;23.6 kg, 291.0&plusmn;3.7 days, 214.8&plusmn;6.0 days, 7.5&plusmn;0.1 kg, while for reproduction traits; age at first calving (AFC), service period (SP) and calving interval (CI), the means were 1522.8&plusmn;19.1 days, 212.4&plusmn;5.9 days and 498.3&plusmn;6.0 days, respectively. All the traits were significantly influenced by period of calving/birth whereas season had significant effect only on PY. The highest heritability (0.29&plusmn;0.05) was estimated for 305DMY and lowest (0.11&plusmn;0.07) for SP in Sahiwal cows. Very high and positive genetic correlations was found among production traits. The first lactation 305DMY showed positive genetic trend, while LL, DP, SP and CI showed a negative genetic trend.</div>

<div>Performance Evaluation, Genetic Parameter and Genetic Trend Estimation of Production and Reproduction Traits of Sahiwal Cattle in Chhattisgarh</div>

<div style="text-align: justify;">The present study was undertaken to study the effect of inbreeding on pre-weaning and sow performance traits of Large White Yorkshire pig population. Data on 7596 Large White Yorkshire pigs maintained at PGRIAS, Kattupakkam from the period of 1990 to 2015, were subjected to least square analysis to study the effect of inbreeding and other non-genetic factors viz., period, season, sex, parity, litter size at birth on various traits using general linear model. Inbreeding was calculated as Wright&rsquo;s path co-efficient. The mean inbreeding co-efficient of LWY population studied was 2.45 %. &nbsp;Among 7596 animals in the pedigree, 2088 were inbred and the range of individual inbreeding co-efficient (F) was from 0 to 37.5 per cent. The average inbreeding in the inbred population was 8.92 %. The effect of inbreeding was found to be significant for weaning weight, pre-weaning average daily gain and litter weight at weaning, where the traits were found to increase with inbreeding (enhancement). The absence of depressive effect on fitness traits observed in the present study could be due to lower levels of inbreeding, which was possible due to periodic introduction of breeding animals and planned mating.</div>

Effect of inbreeding on pre-weaning and sow performance traits in Large White Yorkshire pigs

<div>Background: Selection process for milk performance traits has left remarkable selection signatures in the genome and their identification can guide to utilize under genomic breeding programs for improving productivity in dairy cattle. 
 
Methods: This study utilizes genotype data of Sahiwal (19), Tharparkar (17) and Gir (16) to identify selection signatures in the genomes of Sahiwal-Gir (SW-GR), Sahiwal-Tharparkar (SW-TP) and Tharparkar-Gir (TP-GR) breed pairs by using FST approaches. The highest FST peaks (FST &gt;0.25) were considered as selection signature region. The functional genes underlying signature regions controlling milk performance traits were also annotated. 
 
Result: We identified 41, 29 and 60 selection signatures exhibiting footprints of positive selection among SW-GR, SW-TP and TP-GR breed pairs, respectively. The selection signals controlling milk performance traits were detected as ACADL, SLC26A2, PLCB1, SYT9 genes mapped on chromosome 2, 7, 13 and 15, respectively for SW-GR breed pair. Selection signature regions in the genome of SW-TP breed revealed genes ATPAF1, LEF1, PPARGC1B, EIF6 and ACSS3 for milk production. Furthermore, PLA2R1, SCP2, ATPAF1, CACNA2D1, LEF1 and SUMF1 genes were identified in TP-GR breed pair controlling metabolism and morphogenesis of mammary gland. Moreover, HSPB6, LTBP1, SLIT3, FSHR and ASIP genes were also found in association with thermo-tolerance, disease resistance, immunity, reproduction and coat colour in our indigenous dairy cattle breeds.</div>

Identification of Selection Signatures for Milk Performance Traits among Indigenous Dairy Cattle Breeds using High Density Genomic Information

<div>Background: Bull fertility assumes a vital part in bovine reproduction. Since selection intensity of bulls picked for breeding programs in dairy industry is high as they can sire extensively larger counts of offspring as compared to their female counterparts. Therefore the present study was designed to establish the relationship between the sire fertility and performance traits of the Murrah buffaloes.&nbsp; 
 
Methods: A total of 12898 observations were recorded with respect to routine seminal parameters from 130 Murrah breeding bulls spanning between 1995 and 2019 (25 years). Data consisted of 2161 records of 305 days milk yield (305 MY) and lactation length (LL), 2160 records of lactation milk yield (LMY), 2155 records of peak milk yield (PMY), 1905 records of average fat percentage (FP), 1542 records of service period (SP) and 1914 records of conception rate (CR) have been utilized for the current study. Breeding values with respect to 33 Murrah buffalo bulls were taken for the correlation studied and for further ranking of the sires. 
 
Result: Average mean values of seminal parameter viz. ejaculated volume (EV), colour (Col), consistency (Con), log sperm concentration (LSC), mass activity (MA), initial motility (IM) and Post-Thaw Motility (PTM) were as 3.25&plusmn;0.01 (ml), 3.50&plusmn;0.01 (0-5 scale), 2.52&plusmn;0.04 (0-5 scale), 3.11&plusmn;0.01, 2.25&plusmn;0.01 (0-5 scale), 64.22&plusmn;0.15 and 38.62&plusmn;0.19 (%) respectively. The arithmetic means of LMY, 305 MY, PY, LL, FP, CR and SP were calculated to be 2343.33&plusmn;17.77, 2142.13&plusmn;13.77, 12.57&plusmn;0.06, 328.41&plusmn;2.11, 7.39&plusmn;0.01, 0.52&plusmn;0.09 and 166.36&plusmn;2.75, respectively. The sire rank correlation between the seminal attributes and performance traits was ranged between -0.57&plusmn;0.15 (ejaculate volume and lactation milk yield) and 0.49&plusmn;0.16 (semen consistency and lactation milk yield). Association between the fertility using routine semen quality parameters would be helpful to assess the bull fertility which lead to the improvement in the herd fertility.</div>

Prediction of phenotypic value of lifetime performance traits on the basis of early performance traits in Murrah buffaloes

Study on Applicability of Genotype × Yield × Trait (GYT) Biplots over Genotype × Trait (GT) Biplots in Selection of Maize Hybrids across Soil Moisture Regimes

Genetic analysis of performance traits in Harnali sheep

Production and Reproduction Performance of Sahiwal and HF × Sahiwal Cows

Effect of Wrapping Materials and Storage Time on Shelf Life of Tuberose (Polianthes tuberosa L.)

Per se Performance and Heterosis in Relation to Gene Action for Seed Yield and Yield Related Traits in Chickpea

Performance Evaluation, Genetic Parameter and Genetic Trend Estimation of Production and Reproduction Traits of Sahiwal Cattle in Chhattisgarh

Effect of inbreeding on pre-weaning and sow performance traits in Large White Yorkshire pigs

Identification of Selection Signatures for Milk Performance Traits among Indigenous Dairy Cattle Breeds using High Density Genomic Information

Genetic Study to Establish the Relationship between Sire Fertility and Daughter Performance Traits among Murrah Buffaloes