Performance and farmers preferred traits of Jersey × local cows in the tropics: the case of Angolelana Tera district, North Shewa zone, Ethiopia

Figures & data

Figure 1. Map of the study district showing sampling Kebeles.

Table 1. Sample Kebeles and households involved in the survey study.

No	Kebeles	Number of households
1	Chacha	14
2	Cheki	15
3	Seriti	42
4	Chefanen	30
5	Tsegereda	15
6	Golba	32
7	Bura	10
	Total	158

Table 2. Traits preferences of farmers for crossbreed animals (rank).

HFCB (N = 156)	Index	Rank	JCB (n = 158)	Index	Rank	IB (n = 158)	Index	Rank
Milk yield	0.12	1	Milk Fat	0.16	1	Disease	0.13	1
Growth	0.11	2	Fertility	0.16	2	Traction	0.12	2
Traction	0.11	3	Growth	0.14	3	Adaptation	0.12	3
Fertility	0.11	4	Adaptation	0.11	4	Longevity	0.11	4
Diseases	0.10	5	Milk yield	0.11	5	Milk Fat	0.10	5
Milk fat	0.10	6	Diseases	0.10	6	Temperament	0.10	6
Adaptation	0.10	7	Traction	0.09	7	Milk yield	0.09	7
Temperament	0.09	8	Temperament	0.06	8	Growth	0.08	8
Longevity	0.08	9	Longevity	0.05	9	Fertility	0.07	9
Color	0.07	10	Color	0.02	10	Color	0.06	10

Note: HFCB: Holstein-Friesian Crossbred, JCB: Jersey Crossbred, and IB: Indigenous breed.

Table 3. Productive and reproductive performance of local and crossbreeds’ dairy cattle.

Parameters	Breeds (mean and SE)
	IB	HFCB	JCB	P-value
Age at first service (months)	38.22 (0.43)^a	21.68 (2.15)^b	22.76 (0.26^b	0.000
Age a first calving (months)	48.61 (0.74)^a	32.91 (0.52)^b	30.56 (0.70)^c	0.000
Daily milk yield/cow (liter)	1.74	7.36	5.02	0.000
Early	2.43 (0.04)^a	10.52 (0.32)^c	7.06 (0.15)^b	0.000
Mid	1.72 (0.03)^a	7.13 (0.23)^c	4.97 (0.13)^b	0.000
Late	1.06 (0.02)^a	4.44 (0.21)^c	3.04 (0.12)^b	0.000
Lactation length (days)	177.49 (2.73)^a	227.28 (4.12)^b	241.32 (4.10)^c	0.000
Calving interval (days)	797.44 (11.58)^c	447.59 (8.67)^b	411.79 (5.58)^a	0.000
Days open (days)	221.61 (7.05)^c	144.64 (3.20)^b	141.32 (2.14)^a	0.000
Number of services per conception (no.)	2.34 (0.05)^c	1.86 (0.06)^b	1.55(0.041)^a	0.000
Longevity (years)	16.09 (0.28)^b	15.03 (0.26)^a	16.53 (0.10)^b	0.000

Note: HFCB = Holstein-Friesian Crossbred, JCB = Jersey crossbred, IB = indigenous breed. Different superscripts letters in rows indicates significant differences at P < 0.001.

Availability of data and materials

The raw data used for analyses and included in the current study are available from the corresponding authors.