| Abstract: | 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). |
