Udder, teat and milk vein morphology of Indian dromedary camel and its relationship with milkability traits

Abstract The economic viability of the camel in the current scenario can be ensured by improving its dairy potential. The study on the udder and teat characteristics of dromedary and its relationship with milk yield and milkability can be of great value in establishing camel as a dairy animal. The present study was conducted on 45 lactating she-camels of four Indian camel breeds viz. Bikaneri, Jaisalmeri,Kachchhi and Mewari stationed at ICAR-NRCC Bikaner, Rajasthan (India). Various udder and teat morphology, milk yield and milkability traits, factors affecting these traits and the relationship between these traits were studied in hand-milked Indian dromedary camel. The means ± S.E. of teat lengths of left fore, left rear, right fore and right rear teats were measured as 52.21 ± 1.66, 58.52 ± 2.11, 50.13 ± 1.74 and 54.37 ± 1.82 mm, respectively. The means ± S.E. of teat diameters for left fore, left rear, right fore and right rear teats were 42.44 ± 1.60, 46.01 ± 1.68, 39.29 ± 1.31 and 45.20 ± 1.56 mm, respectively. The means ± S.E for udder depth, udder length, udder height from the ground, milk vein diameter and milk vein length were observed as 25.44 ± 0.42, 37.29 ± 0.80, 114.80 ± 0.80, 2.02 ± 0.08 and 88.70 ± 0.96 cm, respectively. The effect of age at calving was significant (p≤0.05). Positive and highly significant (p≤0.01) correlations of milk yield were observed with the majority of udder and teat characteristics, milking time, milk flow rate while a negative correlation was found with udder height and milk let down time. It can be concluded that udder characteristics are influenced by various genetic and non-genetic factors and its relationship with milk yield and milkability can be used for selection and dairy management purposes.