MORPHOMETRIC CHARACTERIZATION AND PRESENT STATUS OF RED CHITTAGONG CATTLE (RCC) IN CHITTAGONG DISTRICT IN BANGLADESH

The present study was performed in the Department of General Animal Science and Animal Nutrition, CVASU during the period from April 2008 to January 2009 to characterize RCC in Chittagong district in Bangladesh. A total of 50 cattle were examined where 15 were male and 35 were female. It was observed that the coat color of these cattle was deep red to yellowish red to whitish red. The color of other parts of the body like horn, hoof, ears, eyeball, eyebrow, vulva and tail switch were also near to red. Horns of these cattle were medium, stumpy with length and diameter for male were 1 1.75±1.36 cm and 11.61±1.28 cm and female were 10.82±1.56 cm and 9.18±2.07 cm respectively. Ears of this cattle were moderately long, alert and slightly dropping with the average length of 16.15±2.87 cm. They possessed medium and fleshy dewlap which were of fair depth. Legs were clean and not so massive, well apart firmly and squarely set under the body. The tail was long and tapering finely to full switch with an average length of 92.29±4.29 cm. The hair coat was fine, short, straight and smooth. The average lactation length, lactation yield and daily milk yield of this type of cattle were 210.12±7.59 days, 805.74±36.52 liters, and 2.25±1.05 liters, respectively. The average age at maturity, gestation length, age at first calving, post partum heat period, calving interval and service per conception were 32.42±3.58 months, 283±7.53 days, 43.10±4.59 months, 44.47±3.47 days, 14.50±3.85 months and 1.60±0.58 respectively. This experiment was based on the field survey. So, further study is needed to be carried out on other characters like genetic characters of RCC in Bangladesh for their characterization, conservation and improvement.