Crossbreeding of German Brown x N’dama Cattle – IV: The Trend of Milk Production by the Crossbreds

Background: The global dairy industry faces a stark disparity, with developed countries producing over 80% of milk despite having only 33.33% of the cattle population, highlighting the need for effective breeding strategies in developing countries.Aim: The study aims to investigate the benefit resulting from crossbreeding of German brown and local N’dama cattle.Methodology: A total of 194 lactation milk yield records from crossbreds and purebred cows of German Brown collected from the crossbreeding programme at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, between 1970 and 1988 were analysed using the least square means of analysis of variance. The records comprised 136 GBF1, 43 GBND, and 12 NDB1; three lactation records from the GBB1 and GBB2 genotypes were excluded due to insufficient data, and no records were available for purebred N'dama. The analysis of variance model included genotype, season, year, sex, and parity as fixed factors.Results: Crossbreds GBND (50% N’dama inheritance) and NDB1 (75% N’dama inheritance) had comparable milk yield at 1269.59kg and 1341.72 kg, respectively, which were significantly (P