Characterisation and evaluation of Tho-Tho cattle of Nagaland

Abstract

Surveys were conducted in 24 villages of 4 districts of Nagaland, i.e. Kohima, Phek, Zuhneboto and Dimapur to characterise Tho-Tho cattle of Nagaland. A total of 242 cattle of different age and sex including 186 Tho-Tho and 56 desi/non-descript were recorded for physical and ten different morphometric traits. To know management and performance of Tho-Tho cattle, 76 farmers were interviewed form these districts. It was observed that Tho-Tho cattle was mainly reared for beef as people preferred beef over pork. Cattle population of the state showed sharp decline of 51% during the years 2007–2012 and needs immediate attention. Based on different physical and morphometric traits, it may be concluded Tho-Tho cattle are distinct as compared to indigenous cattle of Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and Siri of Sikkim. Tho-Tho cattle were larger in size as compared of desi/non descript cattle of the state. Management and performance was more or less similar in the whole north-east region i.e extensive system of management. Multi-variate canonical discriminate analysis using different morphometric traits of indigenous cattle of Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim (Siri) and Tripura showed that Siri (Sikkim) and Tho-Tho (Nagaland) were significantly different than other indigenous cattle of the region and it was supported by physical traits also. Therefore, it is recommended that Tho-Tho cattle population may be registered as distinct cattle breed from Nagaland.