Vet World Vol.18 January-2025 Article - 11
Research Article
Veterinary World, 18(1): 95-101
https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2025.95-101
Comparative analysis of the physical and phenotypic traits of native cattle (Bos indicus) in the Tarai region of North Bihar for conservation
Background and Aim: The evaluation of the phenotypic and morphological characteristics of indigenous breeds may help to frame breeding policies and plans to implement breed conservation and improvement programs to increase the efficiency of the native breed of the Tarai region. This study aimed to determine the phenotypic and morphological characteristics of indigenous cattle of the Tarai region of North Bihar.
Materials and Methods: A field study was undertaken in 32 villages belonging to 13 blocks of the East and West Champaran districts of Bihar. Animals (n = 562) of different age groups were studied to evaluate their phenotypic and morphological characteristics.
Results: It revealed that cattle of the Tarai region are small breeds, and the heights at withers in the females and males were 104.2 ± 0.32 cm and 115 ± 0.27, respectively, with a significant (p = 0.000) difference between sexes. In addition, heart girth was significantly (p = 0.000) higher in males than females. Body length and chest girth were 101.6 ± 0.13 cm and 132.6 ± 0.25 in adult females and 114.8 ± 0.23 cm and 145.7 ± 0.15 cm in adult males, respectively. Body weight also differed significantly (p = 0.001), with 180.9 ± 1.12 and 208.7 ± 1.91 cm for females and males, respectively. Among the draught animals of India, the region cows were comparatively low milkers, with an average lactation yield of 680.2 ± 4.52 kg with a mean lactation length of 224.5 ± 2.06 days and a peak yield of 3.4 ± 0.06 kg/day. The age at first calving and calving interval of Tarai cattle was recorded 32.4 ± 0.22 months and 16.2 ± 0.12 months, respectively.
Conclusion: The results of this study could serve as a potential guide for the establishment and identification of new cattle breeds based on the phenotypic and morphometric characteristics of the cattle in Tarai region of North Bihar using baseline data. The data generated from this study can be useful for new Tarai breed identification and serve to establish long-term selective breeding programs for Tarai cattle in the region.
Keywords: body weight, conservation, phenotypic traits, physical, Tarai cattle.
How to cite this article: Mohan K, Kumar P, and Kundu A (2025) Comparative analysis of the physical and phenotypic traits of native cattle (Bos indicus) in the Tarai region of North Bihar for conservation, Veterinary World, 18(1): 95–101.
Received: 2024-08-15 Accepted: 2024-11-21 Published online: 2025-01-14
Corresponding author: E-mail:
DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2025.95-101
Copyright: Mohan, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/ publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
