The effect of feeding on increasing milk production potential and comparing fattening performance of Astara and Talesh Zebu’s calves

Most of the Iranian native cows are multipurpose. Some of the cows are either milk animals (Sarabi) or exclusive meat animals (Sistani). Most of Iranian native cows have small size and are adapted to unfavorable environment and are resistant against parasites and other diseases. In Astara, meat and milk production of native cows is very low. There are two kinds of native cows: Humped Zebus (50–60%) and Taleshi Zebus (25–30%). Increasing the nutrients with the ration of Taleshi kind resulted in 56.3% increase in production, 8.5% increase in live weight and 18.3% increase in lactation respectively. The corresponding figures in the Astsra’s native Zebu’s were 40.8, 11.9 and 8.2%, respectively. For the Taleshi and Astara zebu’s breeds, correlation coefficient between milk production and live weight of the lactation period was 0.485 and 0.566, respectively. These figures after 30% increase in nutrients in ration amounted to 0.547 and 0.586, respectively. In the same ration, for the Taleshi (A) and Astara (B) calves weight gain amounted to 300–320 g, and 280–300 g, respectively. During the feeding period, the amount of fodder units (F.U.) for every 1 kg Increase of live weight was 9.66 for Taleshi kind (A) and 10.5 for Astara kind (B).     

Quality of hides obtained from cattle-zebu hybrids

Three-breed hybrids Cuban zebu x (Azerbaijan zebu x Aberdeen Angus) surpassed the Azerbaijan zebu and two-breed Azerbaijan zebu with Brown Latvian, Black Pied, and Aberdeen Angus breeds in weight, length, width, area, and thickness of hides. Minimum indices were obtained or purebred animals.     

Biological value of meat of bulls with different genotypes

The quality of meat obtained from young bulls of Azerbaijan zebu, Cuban zebu × Azerbaijan zebu crosses, and hybrids of Azerbaijan zebu with Latvian Brown, Black Pied, and Caucasian Brown breeds is investigated. The meat of bulls of all groups is characterized by high biological value; however, the highest protein quality index is noted in crosses and Azerbaijan zebu × Latvian Brown hybrids. The cutting resistance of meat is the lowest and color intensity and water binding capacity the highest in crosses of Cuban zebu with the Azerbaijan zebu; however, these indices were within the norm in all animals. During tasting, the meat and its products received a high evaluation.     

California Simulation of Evapotranspiration of Applied Water and Agricultural Energy Use in California

The California Simulation of Evapotranspiration of Applied Water (Cal-SIMETAW) model is a new tool developed by the California Department of Water Resources and the University of California, Davis to perform daily soil water balance and determine crop evapotranspiration (ET c ), evapotranspiration of applied water (ET aw ), and applied water (AW) for use in California water resources planning. ET aw is a seasonal estimate of the water needed to irrigate a crop assuming 100% irrigation efficiency. The model accounts for soils, crop coefficients, rooting depths, seepage, etc. that influence crop water balance. It provides spatial soil and climate information and it uses historical crop and land-use category information to provide seasonal water balance estimates by combinations of detailed analysis unit and county (DAU/County) over California. The result is a large data base of ET c and ET aw that will be used to update information in the new California Water Plan (CWP). The application uses the daily climate data, i.e., maximum (T x ) and minimum (T n ) temperature and precipitation (P cp ), which were derived from monthly USDA-NRCS PRISM data (PRISM Group 2011) and daily US National Climate Data Center (NCDC) climate station data to cover California on a 4 km×4 km change grid spacing. The application uses daily weather data to determine reference evapotranspiration (ET o ), using the Hargreaves-Samani (HS) equation (Hargreaves and Samani 1982, 1985). Because the HS equation is based on temperature only, ET o from the HS equation were compared with CIMIS ET o at the same locations using available CIMIS data to determine correction factors to estimate CIMIS ET o from the HS ET o to account for spatial climate differences. Cal-SIMETAW also employs near real-time reference evapotranspiration (ET o ) information from Spatial CIMIS, which is a model that combines weather station data and remote sensing to provide a grid of ET o information. A second database containing the available soil water holding capacity and soil depth information for all of California was also developed from the USDA-NRCS SSURGO database. The Cal-SIMETAW program also has the ability to generate daily weather data from monthly mean values for use in studying climate change scenarios and their possible impacts on water demand in the state. The key objective of this project is to improve the accuracy of water use estimates for the California Water Plan (CWP), which provides a comprehensive report on water supply, demand, and management in California. In this paper, we will discuss the model and how it determines ET aw for use in water resources planning.     

Dynamics of live weight and milk productivity of zebu and hybrids with Black Pied and Latvian Brown cattle breeds

Hybridization of Latvian Brown and Black Pied cows with Azerbaijan zebus made it possible to obtain highly productive hybrid animals. These breeds under the extreme conditions of Azerbaijan significantly surpassed purebred contemporaries in live weight, milk productivity, and milk fat percentage.