Influence of cattle breed combinations on milk production: results of the Analysis of Variance

Abstract

One of the main factors in increasing the efficiency of milk production is the breed. No breed in the world would be ideal for a variety of conditions and technological processes. Besides, like any biological system, the breed is in continuous change. The breed of cattle largely determines both the level of milk production and the quality of milk. Therefore, to improve the quality of milk, it is necessary to establish the degree of influence of zootechnical and technological factors on the condition of milk components. Among genetic factors, the breed of animals and the breed combination have a significant influence. During the research, a one-way analysis of variance of the breed's influence and breed combinations on productive indicators has been analyzed. The factor "breed" and "breed combination" were used as the analyzed factor, and the protein content in milk and the yield of milk protein was used as the dependent factor. Based on one-way and multi-way ANOVA, the degree of influence of the factors under study was assessed. It has been established that the breed has a significant, both direct and combined with other factors, influence on the protein content in milk and the yield of milk protein. The level of the breed's direct influence on the protein content is 1.0%, on the milk protein yield - 1.7%. The factors "father" and "calving number" have the most substantial combined effect. Their influence levels are 1.8%, 1.4%, respectively, with a high level of reliability (P=0.999). The same factors most influence the milk protein yield as the protein content (the levels of influence are 1.9%, 1.3%, respectively) with a high level of reliability (P=0.999). As a result of analyzing the data on changes in protein content and milk protein yield in cows of different breed combinations, it can be concluded that this factor can describe 4.5% of the variability in protein content and 11.4% of milk protein yield (P=0.999). The degree of joint influence of breed combinations with other studied factors was up to 6.6%.