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AGRI 2006, 39: 25-37

Krishna Valley cattle in India: status, characteristics and utility

S.M.K. Karthickeyan, R. Saravanan & P. Thangaraju

Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding, Madras Veterinary College,Chennai 600 007, Tamil Nadu, India

Summary

The Krishna Valley breed of cattle is adraught breed able to withstand extremelyhot, humid climatic conditions and whichhas the capacity to undertake heavy work inthe black cotton soil in the valleys of theKrishna river in India. Their home tract isrestricted to a few taluks (divisions within adistrict) of the northern parts of Karnataka.The distinguishing morphological features ofthe breed are the presence of ablack-coloured muzzle and black shadesdispersed over the body with the lower halfof the scrotum also being black in colour. Theaverage values for height, body length andchest girth are 116.4±1.2, 128.4±2.0 and144.7±2.0 cm in cows; and 150.5±0.5,146.0±3.0 and 191.0±1.0 cm in bullocks,respectively. The cytogenetic investigationrevealed the normal characteristics of cattlechromosomes (2n=60). The microsatellitealleles occurred at frequencies of0.0208 (ILSTS005) to 0.7604 (ETH152) withthe polymorphism information content (PIC)values in the range of 0.3856 (ETH152) to0.7725 (ILSTS034). The breed has a relativelylong productive life as the number ofcalvings can go up to twelve. As the numberof animals of this breed remaining is only inthe order of a few hundred, conservationmeasures are to be taken to avoid theextinction of this valuable germplasm.

Resumen

La raza bovina Krishna Valley es una razade animal de tiro que se enfrenta con

condiciones climáticas extremas de calor yhumedad y posee la capacidad de trabajarbien sobre el suelo de algodón negro de losvalles del río Krishna en la India. La zona deprocedencia se restringe a algunos taluks(subdivisión dentro de un distrito) en la zonanorte de Karnataka. Los principales rasgosmorfológicos de la raza son la presencia debozal negro y estrías negras sobre el cuerpocon con la mitad inferior del escroto negro.La media de los valores de altura, longitudcorporal, y circunferencia en las vacas hansido de 116,4±1,2, 128,4±2,0 y 144,7±2,0 cm;y de 150,5±0,5, 146,0±3,0 y 191,0±1,0 cm enmachos. La investigación citogenéticamuestra características normales en loscromosomas bovinos (2n=60). Los alelos demicrosatélites están presentes en frecuenciasde 0,0208 (ILSTS005) hasta 0,7604 (ETH152)con valores de información contenida depolimorfismo (PIC) entre 0,3856 (ETH152) y0,7725 (ILSTS034). La raza posee una vidaproductiva larga ya que el número de partospuede llegar a doce. Teniendo en cuenta queel número total de animales de esta raza estan solo de unos centenares, las medidas deconservación se hacen necesarias para evitarla extinción de este valioso germoplasma.

Keywords: Krishna Valley cattle, Characters,Conservation, Performance, Karyotype.

Introduction

The Krishna Valley breed of cattle is wellknown for its draught qualities and is usedexclusively in the black cotton soil in thevalleys of the river Krishna. It was alsoreported to be present in adjacent river areas

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26Krishna Valley cattle in India

such as Ghataprabha and Malaprabha in theKarnataka and Maharashtra states in India(Anonymous, 1926). The breed wasdistributed in the districts of Satara, Sangaliand Solapur in the Maharashtra andBelgaum, Bijapur and Raichur districts ofKarnataka (Nivsarkar et al., 2000). But a pilotsurvey conducted recently by Ramesha et al.(2001) indicated a shift in the breeding tractof this breed from Maharashtra andKarnataka to northern Karnataka alone.Only a few hundred true to type animals arenow found in and around the villages of theJamkhandi, Mudhol and Athani taluks(divisions within a district) of northernKarnataka. With the background described,this paper demonstrates the importance ofthe breed in the black cotton soil, itscharacteristics with regard to physical,cytogenetic and molecular markers and itspopulation status with respect toconservation measures required for thebreed.

Origin and History

During the last two decades of thenineteenth century, some of the kings of theSouthern Mahratta country (which lies in thewatershed areas of the rivers Krishna,Ghatapabha and Malaprabha), tried toevolve a powerful bullock for agriculturalpurposes for use in the sticky black cottonsoil (Joshi and Phillips, 1953). According toSingh and Singh (1936), Ongole cattle wereundoubtedly the breed, which played themost prominent role in the evolution ofKrishna Valley cattle. It was claimed that Girand possibly Kankrej cattle from Gujaratstate, Ongole cattle from Madras Province(now the areas in Andhra Pradesh state) andlocal cattle having Mysore–type blood wereused to evolve the Krishna Valley breed. Theking of Sangli, at one time a well-knownbreeder of Krishna Valley cattle, contributedsubstantially in making judicious use of allthese strains to produce the desired type ofanimal. Though there was a wide variationin the characteristics, the massive size of the

resulting animals was the chief dominatingfactor which attracted the attention of thecultivators.

Breeding Tract and Status

Ramesha et al. (2001) in their survey reportedthat the breeding tract of this breed wasrestricted to a few villages of the Jamkhandi,Mudhol and Athani taluks of northernKarnataka. In a recent visit made by theauthors during February 2005, less than fiftyanimals were found in and around thevillages of Jamkhandi in Bagalkod district (apart of the breeding tract). This finding is inagreement with Ramesha et al. (2001) whofound only a few hundred animals in theentire breeding tract. The animals of this typewere also scattered scarcely in other talukssuch as Mudhool, Bilagi, Bagalkod andBadami of Bagalkod districts. Goodspecimens of Krishna Valley cattle areavailable in Mudurakhandi, Kallolli andSavalagi villages in Jamkhandi taluk.

The marked decline in the number ofKrishna Valley cattle marks a critical andalarming situation, which is evidenced by theshrinking size of the breeding tract andconfinement of these animals to only a fewregions of northern Karnataka. One of themain reasons for this is the lack ofavailability of breeding Krishna Valley bullsresulting from the preference of farmers forthe Khillari breed of cattle which is moreattractive and also massive in appearance.Not much effort had been made to preservethe Krishna Valley draught breed. The otherpossible reason could be the mechanizationof agricultural operations in a few areas.Furthermore, most of the farmers had startedselling their Krishna Valley animals due to acontinuous drought prevailing in the tract.But few doses of semen samples have beenpreserved in the Semen Bank inHassarghatta, Bangalore, in the NationalDairy Research Institute, in Adugodi(Figure 1), and in Bangalore and CentralSemen Collection Centre, in Dharwad inKarnataka state.

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Figure 1. Krishna Valley bullock which was used as a bull for collection of semen andsubsequently castrated.

Figure 2. Krishna Valley animals maintained in a Goshala (a non-governmental organization).

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28Krishna Valley cattle in India

The herd size of Krishna Valley cattlefound in villages ranges from one to three.The Krishna Valley animals are notmaintained in situ in any governmentorganizations or livestock farms. The IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research (ICAR) hasrecently taken steps to conserve the KrishnaValley germplasm through the NationalBureau of Animal Genetic Resources inKarnal, Haryana. Interestingly, in one of theGoshalas (non-governmental organizationsmaintaining different breeds of livestock inIndia) situated in Bangalore, more than25 Krishna Valley cattle are maintained andare effectively acting as the real conservationcentre (Figure 2). The breeding of the cattle iscarried out through artificial inseminationwith semen of the same breed; but no geneticimprovement measures are undertaken forKrishna Valley cattle.

Ecological Settings

The home tract of Krishna Valley cattle is theplateau east of the Western Ghats. The tract

extends over an area lying between latitudes15o8° and 17o8° N and longitudes 74o and78o E (Ramesha et al., 2001). The altituderanges from 1800 to 2500 feet above meansea level (MSL). The soils of the area fall intothree categories viz. red soils in the hills,widely distributed and highly fertile blacksoils and light gray soils.

In general, the climate is dry. The coldand dry season lasts from the middle ofOctober to the middle of February. Thesummer season extends from February toJune. During the months of April and May, itis considerably hotter. The rainy seasonusually occurs from June to the middle ofOctober. The annual rainfall ranges from30 to 50 inches.

Land Holding and Agriculture

The land holding capacity of the farmersranges from two to ten acres and somefarmers do not use the land for agriculture.Canal irrigation is employed in most placesand some areas are rain fed and make use of

Figure 3. Krishna Valley cow.

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bore well irrigation. Among the agriculturalcrops grown in the area, wheat is the majorcrop followed by the others such as sorghum,sugarcane, sunflower, cotton, turmeric andmaize. Banana plantations can also be foundin the breeding tract of Krishna Valley cattle.

Morphological Characters

The morphological characters are quitevaried among individuals, as the breed is amixture of three distinct breed types viz., Gir,Ongole and the local cattle of the Mysoretype. However, certain distinctcharacteristics can be observed among theanimals of this breed which distinguish themfrom other breeds. The coat color in calves isgenerally greyish white, although a few darkgray-colored calves are also present. Theadult animals are also greyish white in color(Figure 3), usually with darker shades on thefore- and hindquarters in males. The cows ofKrishna Valley breed are light gray in color,but sometimes brown-coloured and blackand white-colored females are also seen. The

face of the breed is narrow. The forehead iswide and concave. The muzzle is alwaysblack in color this being one of thedistinguishing features of Krishna Valleycattle. The eyes are wider and the eyelidsblack in colour. The ears are short, erect,horizontal and pointed, but not drooping.The head is surmounted by short, slate-coloured, curved horns usually emerging inan outward direction from the outer anglesof the poll and slightly upwards and theninwards with a mild twist. The tip of thehorns is generally blunt. The neck is shortand thick giving a massive appearance. Thedewlap is pendulous and well developed.

The Krishna Valley is a medium-sizedanimal with a short body having a moderatehump. The hump in bulls and bullocks islarge and black in colour. The barrel is largeand well developed (Figure 4). The chest iswide with a well-sprung rib cage which isdeep and capacious. The sheath is pendulousin males and the lower half of the scrotum ischaracteristically black in colour. The udderin the female is medium-sized with shortteats and fore teats are longer than hind. The

Figure 4. A pair of Krishna Valley bullocks-ploughing the agricultural field.

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30Krishna Valley cattle in India

tail is long, fine and tapering, extending tothe hock joint with the switch being black incolour. The legs are short, thick, muscularand powerful. Black-coloured markings canbe found in front of the knee joint and ablack coloured patch can also be seen nearthe fetlock and pastern regions (Figure 5).The bullocks are powerfully built for haulingheavy loads of agricultural produce.

In general, the Krishna Valley is quitedistinguishable from other breeds of cattle inSouth India with their typical horn pattern,characteristically black-colored scrotum andmuzzle and black patches over the knee andfetlock joints.

Body Measurements

Body measurements were taken from44 animals in the breeding tract. The meanand standard error of various bodymeasurements of the Krishna Valley calves,

young stock and adult animals are shown intable 1.

The values are in a slightly higher rangethan those noticed by Ramesha et al. (2001)who estimated the height, body length andheart girth in Krishna Valley cattle as 106.96,113.20 and 136.96 cm in cows and 121.4,129.4 and 144.8 cm in bulls respectively.Other characteristics of the horn such asspread at mid-point, distance between tipsand horn circumference at base variedbetween cows and bullocks indicating thevariation existing in the orientation of thehorns. The thickness of the skin (single-fold)was found to be 3.9±0.3 mm in cows and7.1 mm in bullocks.

Performance Characteristics

Reproduction

Krishna Valley cows have a relatively longproductive life as demonstrated by cows

Figure 5. Krishna Valley male youngstock with typical light grey-coloured coat and shortears.

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Tab

le 1

.Mea

n ±

S.E

. of v

ario

us b

ody

mea

sure

men

ts (c

m) o

f Kri

shna

Val

ley

bree

d of

cat

tle.

Hor

n

Age

gr

oups

H

eigh

t Bo

dy

leng

th

Hea

rt

girt

h Fa

ce

leng

th

Face

w

idth

Ea

r le

ngth

Ta

il le

ngth

Le

ngth

Spre

ad

at m

id-

poin

t

Dis

tanc

e be

twee

n tip

s G

irth

at

bas

e

Skin

th

ickn

ess

(mm

) C

alve

s (0

-6

mon

th)

78.0

±4.5

(6

) 78

.3±7

.2

(6)

87.5

±7.2

(6

) 28

.8±3

.1(6

) 12

.9±0

.9

(6)

13.4

±0.5

(5

) 54

.0±5

.3

(6)

- -

- -

2.4±

0.3

(5)

Cal

ves

(7-1

2 m

onth

)

102.

6±2.

9 (5

) 10

8.0±

4.6

(5)

116±

4.3

(5)

38.4

±1.9

(5)

14.6

±0.5

(5

) 15

.0±0

.0

(1)

83.5

±2.8

(4

) -

- -

- 2.

5±0.

2(3

)

You

ng

stoc

k (1

½ -

3 ye

ar)

104.

6±3.

4 (1

1)

112.

8±2.

1 (1

1)

129.

3±3.

4 (1

1)

40.5

±0.6

(11)

16

.1±0

.4

(11)

94

.7±1

.6

(9)

16.6

±0.2

(9

) -

- -

- 3.

5±0.

2(1

0)

Cow

s 11

6.4±

1.2

(20)

12

8.4±

2.0

(19)

14

4.7±

2.0

(19)

44

.9±0

.7(1

9)

17.2

±0.3

(1

9)

102.

8±2.

5 (1

8)

17.9

±0.3

(1

3)

38.8

±1.4

(8

) 23

.4±1

.5

(8)

20.8

±4.8

(8

) 17

.4±0

.6

(7)

3.9±

0.3

(19)

Bu

llock

s 15

0.5±

0.5

(2)

146.

0±3.

0 (2

) 19

1.0±

1.0

(2)

53.5

±1.5

(2)

22.0

0±0.

0 (2

) 19

.0±0

.0

(2)

121.

5±0.

5(2

) 35

.0±1

2.0

(2)

28.0

±4.0

(2

) 35

.0±2

.1

(2)

22.5

±0.5

(2

) 7.

1±0.

0(2

) Fi

gure

s in

par

enth

eses

are

the

num

ber

of o

bser

vati

ons.

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32Krishna Valley cattle in India

with more than nine calvings being found inthe villages. They were also reported to havehad twelve calvings from a single cowduring her life time. According to Rameshaet al. (2001), there were regular calvers withan inter-calving period of 13 to 14 months.

The age at first estrus was reported to bebetween three and three and a half yearsand the age at first calving was from four tofour and a half years. The lactation periodvaried from five to eight months. Notwinning was reported in this breed. Otherreproductive problems such as dystochia,retained placenta, abortions and stillbirthshave not been reported in the breed.

Production

The milk yields of Krishna Valley cows arenot particularly high as they are mainly usedfor their draught qualities, but the averagedaily milk yield was 3.17±0.53 kg (n=12) asreported by farmers with the minimum yieldof 1.5 kg to a maximum of 8 kg.

Utility

The breed is well adapted to suit theextremely hot, humid climate prevailing inthe breeding tract and has the distinctquality of pronounced pulling power. As aresult it is used for ploughing in black cottonsoil, carting and sugarcane hauling. Thebullocks are able to perform hard work inblack cotton soil for a relatively long period,i.e. between 10 am and 5 pm with only asingle break. Ramesha et al. (2001) reportedthat a pair of bullocks could carry loads ofup to two tonnes over shorter distances andone tonne over longer distances for up toeight to ten hours a day at a speed of 4 kmper hour. As the females produce less milk,sometimes they are also used for ploughingand carting. Because of their adaptabilityand high tolerance for strenuous work, thebreed is suitable for profitable use in remoteareas where transportation andmechanization facilities are unavailable.

Since these animals have a medium-sizedbody and short and powerful legs, they arebest suited for ploughing inside the vineyardsand carting heavy loads of sugarcane in thehard, marshy, black cotton soil during rainyseasons.

Husbandry Practices

Breeding

The majority of the cows of this breed wererun with local bulls and a few with Khillaribreed bulls. In the breeding tract, onlynatural service was practiced and there wasno supply of frozen semen from the KrishnaValley breed for use in artificial insemination.In addition the local farmers also did notfavour using the breed. At present, noKrishna Valley bull is available in the villagesfor the farmers to service their cows, butartificial insemination with Khillari semen isdone through local veterinary dispensariesand hospitals, as per the desire of thefarmers.

Feeding

Usually the female calves are allowed tosuckle up to two to three months of age,while male calves may suckle for up to five tosix months. After two to three months of age,the calves are hand-fed with green fodderand after five months, they are sent forgrazing. The animals are sent out around8 am for grazing and remain in the grazingarea until 5 pm in the evening. A fewfarmers feed their cows with two kilogramsof concentrate mixture. The bullocks are wellcared for by the farmers. Wheat bran,sugarcane tops, sunflower oil cake, carrotleaves and other agricultural by-productsfrom maize, sorghum and other crops are fedto the animals. Apart from this, the localgrasses from the banks of the river belts arethe grazing source for these animals. Effortshad been made by the Department ofAnimal Husbandry towards fodder

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

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development through the supply ofNB-21 (Napier x Bajra hybrid).

Other practices

The males are castrated when they attainthree years of age, using a locally madewooden castrator, and after one year, theyare trained for carting and other work.Temperamentally, the males of KrishnaValley are vicious and difficult to control.Though the Krishna Valley is a draughtbreed, twice daily milking is carried out bythe farmers at 6 to 7 am in the morning and6 to 7 pm in the evening.

The breed does not have any culturalrelationship with the local people, but duringthe Karunmae Pournima festival, theseanimals are accorded special ritual attention.There are two other important festivals tonote, these being the Ugadhi, Maha

Shivaratri (Babaladhi festival) duringFebruary and March and Shiva Jayanthiwhich takes place in May. The animals arebrought to the shandies (seasonal market)and kept for sale. During these festivals, alivestock fair is conducted and goodspecimens are also awarded prizes. One suchpair of Krishna Valley bullocks whichclaimed the best bullock award for the pastthree years consecutively is shown inFigure 6. The Krishna Valley breed is hardyand well adapted to the local climaticconditions.

Karyology

Blood samples were collected from a total of12 animals including five males and sevenfemales and subjected to short-termlymphocyte culture using standard protocol.About 20 complete metaphase plates were

Figure 6. A pair of Krishna Valley bullocks won the best animal award consequently for 3 yearsin livestock fair (also seen darker shades over the body, legs and lower half of the scrotum andtypical horns).

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

34Krishna Valley cattle in India

examined from each animal and the diploidchromosome number was found to be60 (2n=60) in the Krishna Valley breed ofcattle. All the chromosomes were acrocentricexcept the X chromosome which was thelargest metacentric, confirming the normalcharacteristics of cattle chromosomes. Themetaphase chromosome spread and itskaryotype have been presented infigures 7 and 8.

Microsatellite Markers

The molecular characterization was carriedout in a sample of 50 unrelated KrishnaValley cattle in the breeding tract using fivedifferent microsatellite (ILSTS005, ILSTS054,ETH152, ETH225, and HEL001) markers assuggested by the FAO (1996). The PCR(Polymerase Chain Reaction) amplifiedproducts were resolved through a 6%denaturing polyacrylamide gel and sizingwas done using the 10 bp DNA ladder

Figure 7. Metaphase chromosome spread of Krishna Valley bull (2n=60, XY).

marker. The Krishna Valley cattle revealedan average allele number of 4.4 out of5 microsatellite loci screened. The number,size and frequency of alleles, polymorphicinformation content (PIC) and expectedheterozygosity of microsatellite loci inKrishna Valley breed of cattle are presentedin table 2. Representative gels stained withsilver nitrate bearing the microsatellite alleles(bands) are shown in figure 9. Thesemicrosatellite alleles occurred at frequenciesof 0.0116 (ILSTS054) to 0.7660 (ETH152).The polymorphism information content (PIC)values were in the range of 0.3722 (ETH152)to 0.6954 (ILSTS005). The overall mean forexpected heterozygosity was found to be0.6516.

Conclusion

The Krishna Valley breed is a medium-sizeddraught breed and performs well exclusivelyin black cotton soil areas where other breeds

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

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Tab

le 2

. Alle

le n

umbe

r, s

ize

& f

requ

ency

, po

lym

orph

ic i

nfor

mat

ion

cont

ent

(PIC

) an

d he

tero

zygo

sity

of

mic

rosa

telli

te l

oci

in K

rish

na

Val

ley

bree

d.

Sl. n

o.

Locu

s N

o. o

f al

lele

A

llele

siz

e (b

p) a

nd fr

eque

ncy

Poly

mor

phis

m

info

rmat

ion

cont

ent

Expe

cted

he

tero

zygo

sity

(N

ei’s

, 197

3)

182

186

190

194

1.

ILST

S005

4

0.23

96

0.18

75

0.29

17

0.28

12

0.

6954

0.

7433

132

138

140

144

146

148

2.

ILST

S054

6

0.19

77

0.11

63

0.01

16

0.17

44

0.44

19

0.05

81

0.67

95

0.71

82

194

200

204

208

3.

ETH

152

4 0.

7660

0.

0745

0.

0957

0.

0638

0.37

22

0.39

45

146

152

154

160

4.

ETH

225

4 0.

2326

0.

1163

0.

3023

0.

3488

0.66

68

0.71

93

100

106

108

110

5.

HEL

001

4 0.

1778

0.

3000

0.

4333

0.

0889

0.62

65

0.68

27

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

36Krishna Valley cattle in India

Figure 8. Karyotype of Krishna Valley bull.

Figure 9. Microsatellite alleles (bp) on silver-stained polyacrylamide gel in KrishnaValley cattle.

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

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do not. The animals appear to have arelatively long productive life of up to12 calvings and are able to thrive well in hotclimatic conditions. However the status ofthe population is very alarming and itrequires immediate attention to develop andimplement a conservation strategy. Withoutsuch an intervention the breed is likely tobecome extinct within a few years.

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Dr. M.K.Rao andDr. A.Obi Reddy, Southern Regional Station,National Dairy Research Institute, Bangalore,560 030 for the help rendered in carrying outthe study.

List of References

Anonymous. 1926. The Krishna ValleyBreed. Breeds of Cattle in BombayPresidency. Leaflet No. 15. Department ofAgriculture, Poona, Bombay, India, (cited inRamesha et al., 2001).

FAO. 1996. Global Projects for theMaintenance of Domestic Animal GeneticDiversity (MoDAD). <www.fao.org/dad-is/>FAO, Rome, (Accessed on 9th September,2004)

Nivsarkar A.E., P.K. Vij, &M.S. Tantia. 2000. Animal GeneticResources of India Cattle and Buffaloes.Indian Council of Agricultural Research,New Delhi, India, (cited in Ramesha et al.,2001).

Ramesha K.P., A. Obi Reddy,M.K. Rao & B.V. Baskar. 2001.Characterization of Krishna Valley breed ofcattle. In: Indigenous Cattle and their Role inthe New Millennium. Seminar, Workshopand Cattle Show, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India.March 24-25, 2001, pp. KA11-14.

Joshi N.R. & R.W. Philips. 1953. ZebuCattle of India and Pakistan. FAOAgriculture Studies, No. 19, Food andAgriculture Organization, Rome, Italy,pp. 256.

Singh I. & H. Singh. 1936. A Survey ofthe Breeds of Cattle in India. LahoreBookshop, Lahore. (cited in Ramesha et al.,2001).