Selection of Young Dairy Bulls for Future Use in Artificial Insemination

Relationships of breeding values of sires for first lactation milk yield with pedigree information or indices were examined to identify the optimal criteria of selecting young dairy bulls for future use in artificial insemination (AI). Records of performance data on 1087 crossbred daughters (Holstein - Friesian, Jersey and Brown Swiss with Hariana) of 147 sires, generated at Livestock Production Research (Cattle and Buffaloes) Farm, IVRI, Izatnagar, U.P., during 1972 - 1995 were used to obtain the estimates of sire's breeding values (EBV) using the Best Linear Unbiased Prediction Procedures. The correlations between young bull's EBV and the dam's first lactation milk yield was non-significantly different from zero. However, the young bull's EBV was negatively and significantly related (r = - 0.275 ; P < 0.05) to the dam's best lactation milk yield, suggesting that the selection of young dairy bulls from high yielding elite dams is not a suitable criteria for genetic improvement. The correlations of sire's and paternal grandsire's EBV's with young bull's EBV were high and positive (0.532, 0.844; P < 0.01). The maternal grandsire's EBV was positively but non-significantly related to grandson's EBV. The pedigree index incorporating dam's milk records and sire's EBV's showed a negative and non-significant correlation with young bull's EBV. However, the correlation of a pedigree index $(I_3)$ combining information on sire's and paternal grand-sire's EBV's with young bull's EBV's was considerably high and positive (0.797; P < 0.01). The regression coefficients of young bull's EBV on pedigree index $I_3$, was higher than those on other pedigree information. These results revealed that there was no advantage in basing selection on dam's performance or maternal grand-sire's EBV and that sire's and paternal grandsire's EBV's were reliable pedigree information for selection of young dairy bulls for future use in AI.