Milk production performance of the Brown Alpine-Azawak crossbred female bovine compared to the Azawak zebu in Niger

Within the framework of the genetic improvement of cattle, in addition to the selection of the Azawak zebu which has been in progress for a long time, crossbreeding by artificial insemination between Alpine Brown and local breeds is being experimented. This work takes stock of this introduction on the performances acquired. The study was based on data from 68 lactations of pure Azawak zebu crosses and 68 lactations of pure Azawak zebus, from 104 dairy cows (52 crosses and 52 Azawak). Thus, the daily productions of the primipares and brown multipares of the Alps-Azawak are respectively 7.86 ± 1.47 Kg and 11.27 ± 3.89 Kg and those of the pure Azawak are 4.10 ± 1.03 Kg and 4.84 ± 1.15 Kg. The standard production (over 305 days of lactation) of the crossbreeds is 2398.04±448.17 Kg and 3445.47±1228.59 Kg in primiparous and multiparous respectively, and significantly higher than that of the Azawak (251.04±313.96 Kg and 1442.61±334.99 Kg). The total production is estimated at 2473.88±744.63 Kg and 3385.68±903.51 for the primiparous and multiparous crosses is almost double the Azawak values (1349.59 ± 393.40 Kg and 1301.72 ± 420.49 Kg). All of this shows that the crossbreeding carried out gives crosses with lactation performances well above those of pure Azawak and that artificial insemination is a method that allows to control its breeding and to have one calf per year. It will be necessary to continue the monitoring of these crossbreeds to evaluate the productivity of the breeding career of the crossbreed.