Abstract
Data on 1524 pedigrees, breeding and performance records of 447 Nili-Ravi buffaloes maintained at the Livestock
Experiment Station, Chak Katora, (Bahawalpur), Punjab, Pakistan during the period 1989 to 2007 were utilized in
this study to identify the high yielding elite buffaloes/bull mothers (dams) to retain for further breeding for the
ongoing progeny testing program in Punjab. The lactation records up to 9
th parity were used for the analysis. The
data were analyzed through Best Linear Unbiased Prediction (BLUP) procedure. The breeding values were
estimated by fitting an individual animal model. The least squares means for 305-day lactation milk yield was
2030.13±14.58 litre. The average lactation length was 260.42±1.35 days. Of 447 buffaloes, 284 had positive
breeding values (EBVs) and 90 were declared as elite buffaloes. The estimated breeding values for milk yield
from animal model evaluations ranged from -323.40 to +345.12 kg. The genetic trend for 305-day lactation milk
yield depicted a deteriorating trend indicating that breeding strategy proved to be inefficient during the last 20
years.
