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| dc.contributor.author | Agerensh Mekuriaw | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2022-01-17T11:19:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2022-01-17T11:19:11Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2022-01-17 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://ir.bdu.edu.et/handle/123456789/12935 | |
| dc.description.abstract | The study was conducted in the urban and peri-urban areas of Bahir Dar special zone, Amhara Regional State, Ethiopia, with the objectives of describing the cattle fattening system, and characterizing the conformation traits of fattening cattle in the area. Data on the fattening systems were collected from 112 cattle fatteners (72 from peri- urban and 40 fatteners from urban areas) who have experience of cattle fattening using a semi-structured questionnaire. The beef cattle conformational traits measurement was carried out on fattening cattle in selected farms under fattener’s management condition. Twelve farms, among those used for the interview, were used for the purpose of measuring body conformation animals’ performance. A total of 60 animals (30 from peri-urban farms and 30 from urban farms) were randomly included based on the numbers of cattle on the farm, willingness of fatteners and fattening system. The survey data was analyzed and summarized using descriptive statistics and index ranking. Conformational trait data were analyzed using the General Linear Model Procedure of SAS 9.1. The results showed that the overall mean family size, age of household heads, landholding per household were 8.43, 42.31 years, and 0.77 hectares, respectively. The periurban of the respondents hold cattle for draft power (index = 0.40). The respondents prefer intact and matured bulls in the urban (100%) and peri-urban (93%) areas. The respondents, on average, fatten three times a year (47.3%) with a mean number of 8.08 fattening cattle. The main feed sources in the peri-urban and urban areas were crop residue (index = 0.26) and agro-industrial by products (index = 0.63), respectively. Most of the cattle fatteners select their fattening cattle based on health status (index 0.19) and sex (index 0.18). The mean initial and final body weight of fattening cattle were 348.75kg and 425.33 kg, respectively. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in final body weight and initial body weight between weight groups. The quantitative measure of conformational trait of beef cattle reared under farm management based on ICAR guidelines for conformation recording of dairy cattle, beef cattle and dairy goats (ICAR,2017) due to these the overall least square means and standard error value of body conformation trait of fattening cattle on Body length, Back length, Chest width, Thurlwidth, heart girth, Body depth, Chest depth, Height at withers, Height at rump, Rounding in rips, and, body weight measuring in the peri-urban and urban study area were also showed p<0.05, expected body length, chest width, height at rump, and wither height. The correlation coefficient showed that the live weight was highly correlated with HG compared to other measurements (r=0.839). To meet the ever increasing demand for fattening cattle and the benefits of the fattener it is recommended to support both urban and peri-urban beef cattle fattener by updating fattening practice through increased the extension service and announce measuring body conformation of beef cattle for estimating live body weight. | en_US |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.subject | ANIMAL PRODUCTION | en_US |
| dc.title | CHARACTERIZATION OF CATTLE FATTENING SYSTEM AND BODY CONFORMATION OF BEEF CATTLE IN BAHIR DAR SPECIAL ZONE, AMHARA REGIONAL STATE, ETHIOPIA | en_US |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_US |
