E3S Web of Conferences 510, 01039 (2024) https://doi.org/10.

1051/e3sconf/202451001039
ESDCA2024

The relationship between the milk productivity

of cows and their daughters in an Ayrshire herd
in the conditions of North-West Russia
Irina Komlyk1*, and Natalia Grishina1
1
Petrozavodsk State University, 33, Lenin Str., Petrozavodsk, 185910, Russia

Abstract. Selection of cows based on the productivity of their mothers is

an important part of breeding work. The purpose of the study is to analyze
the manifestation of high productivity of Ayrshire cows depending on the
milk yield of their mothers. The heritability of milk yield and composition
of mothers' milk by daughters was established to be 0.410-0.112. The
maximum number of daughters with a milk yield of 10 thousand kg or
more was identified in the 3rd lactation (up to 27.9%). It is advisable to
select cows for herd reproduction from mothers evaluated by the results of
the 3rd lactation.

1 Introduction
The leading role in increasing productivity and improving animal breeds is played by
selection and breeding work, based on modern achievements of zootechnical science and
practice. Selection in dairy cattle breeding should be aimed at selecting the best animals,
increasing the hereditary potential of milk productivity and developing new methods for
assessing the individual breeding qualities of animals that surpass the existing generation
[1-6]. The task of breeders in the practice of dairy cattle breeding is to improve highly
productive herds. The main way to achieve this goal is to identify the best individuals to
produce offspring, which should surpass their parents by productive qualities. When
assessing selection and genetic parameters, it is of great importance to determine the degree
of heritability of traits that allow predicting the effectiveness of selection by economically
useful traits. The heritability by different productivity indicators can differ significantly.
According to some researchers, it can be 0.28–0.51 for milk yield and 0.17–0.74 for the
mass fraction of fat [2, 5-9].
One of the early stages of replenishing the breeding stock of a herd is the selection of
highly productive cows and the formation of a breeding group of animals. This is an
integral part of systematic selection work, since it is recognized that the correlation between
mothers’ milk yield and daughters’ milk productivity is positive [10]. Studying the
influence of age and milk yield of mothers on the milk productivity of daughters in a highly
productive herd of Ayrshire cows was the goal of our work.

* Corresponding author: kafedrazoo@mail.ru

© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
E3S Web of Conferences 510, 01039 (2024) https://doi.org/10.1051/e3sconf/202451001039
ESDCA2024

2 Materials and methods

The research was carried out at a breeding plant for breeding Ayrshire cattle (the Republic
of Karelia, Russia) in 2017-2021. The productivity of cows during the study period
averaged 8486 kg of milk with a fat content of 3.90% and protein content of 3.25%.
1726 mother-daughter pairs with completed 1st lactation were selected. The following
indicators of milk productivity were studied: milk yield and milk fat production for 305
days of lactation, fat and protein content in milk for 1–3 lactations.

3 Results and Discussion

Milk productivity indicators of mother cows and their daughters for the first and third
lactation are presented in Table 1.
According to the results of the first lactation, daughters significantly (P≤0.001)
exceeded their mothers in milk yield, content of milk fat and its production by 683 kg,
0.16% and 39.7 kg, respectively. However, in terms of protein content in milk, they were
inferior to mothers by 0.05% (P≤0.001).
In the third lactation, the daughters gave 682 kg more milk than their mothers
(P≤0.001). The excess over mothers in fat content in milk and milk fat production was
0.20% and 45.3 kg, respectively (P≤0.001). In milk protein content, daughters were again
inferior to mothers (0.08%, (P≤0.001). Thus, daughters were more productive than their
mothers in basic indicators at the age of both the first and the third lactation. This is the
result of systematic selection work. It should be noted that the average milk yield of cows
of both generations during the third lactation increased compared to the first lactation by
1327–1326 kg, while increasing milk fat content by 0.02–0.06%.
Table 1. Milk productivity indicators of mother cows and their daughters Milk productivity indicators
of mother cows and their daughters.
Number of mother- Mothers Daughters
Indicators
daughter pairs X±m Сv, % X±m Cv, %
1st lactation
Milk yield, kg 1726 7167 ± 25 14.4 7850 ± 29 13.1
Fat, % 1726 3.98 ± 0.004 4.5 4.14 ± 0.006 6.3
Fat, kg 1726 285.1 ± 1.0 14.8 324.8 ± 1.1 13.9
Protein, % 1726 3.29 ± 0.003 3.6 3.24 ± 0.002 3.0
3rd lactation
Milk yield, kg 364 8494 ± 67 15.1 9176 ± 71 14.8
Fat, % 364 4.00 ± 0.01 5.7 4.20 ± 0.01 6.0
Fat, kg 364 340.0 ± 2.9 16.3 385.3 ± 3.2 15.7
Protein, % 364 3.28 ± 0.006 3.7 3.20 ± 0.005 3.3

We calculated correlation coefficients to assess the degree of inheritance of productivity

traits along the mother-daughter line (Table 2). In general, the relationship turned out to be
typical and statistically pronounced. In the group of cows “mothers 1st lactation –
daughters 1st lactation” the correlation for milk yield was 0.201 (P≤0.001). For the content
and yield of milk fat, and protein content, the correlation coefficients were approximately
the same as for milk yield: 0.176, 0.205, 0.196 (P≤0.01). Correlations of productivity
indicators between adult mothers and daughters were weak but significant (from 0.150 to
0.106). The calculated heritability coefficients (h2=2r) were typical [8, 10]. This indicates a
significant influence of mothers' genotype on daughters' productivity indicators.

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Table 2. Inheritance of milk productivity traits of mothers by their daughters during the same
lactation.

Number of mother-
Indicators r±mr tdif P h2
daughter pairs
st
1 lactation
Milk yield, kg 1726 0.201±0.023 8.5 ≤0.001 0.402
Fat, % 1726 0.176±0.024 7.3 ≤0.001 0.252
Fat, kg 1726 0.205±0.051 4.0 ≤0.001 0.410
Protein, % 1726 0.096±0.023 8.2 ≤0.001 0.392
3rd lactation
Milk yield, kg 364 0.147±0.052 2.8 ≤0.01 0.294
Fat, % 364 0.150±0.051 2.9 ≤0.01 0.300
Fat, kg 364 0.115±0.046 2.5 ≤0.05 0.230
Protein, % 364 0.106±0.052 2.0 ≤0.05 0.112

Mother cows were divided into 6 groups according to the level of milk yield to assess
its correlation with the milk yield of daughters: less than 6.0; 6.0–6.9; 7.0–7.9; 8.0–8.9;
9.0–9.9; 10.0 thousand kg or more (Table 3). With an increase in the milk yield of mothers
during the first lactation from less than 6.0 to 7.0–7.9 thousand kg, the milk yield of first-
calf daughters increased from 7606 to 7879 kg, which significantly exceeds the milk yield
of mothers (P≤0.001). A further increase in mothers’ milk yield to 8.0 thousand kg of milk
or more was accompanied by an increase in daughters’ productivity to 8134-8364 kg,
which is slightly higher compared to herd mates of groups 1–3, but significantly (by 1149
kg, P≤0.001) lower than mothers’ milk yield.
Table 3. Level of milk yield of daughters in 1st lactation depending on the milk yield of mother cows
in 1st lactation.
Gradation of mothers Milk yield for 305 days of the 1st lactation, kg
Number of
by milk yield for 305 mothers daughters
mother-
days of the first
daughter pairs Х±m, kg Cv, % Х±m, kg Cv, %
lactation, thousand kg
Less than 6.0 212 5545±28 7.3 7606±66 12.7
6.0–6.9 568 6549±12 4,3 7697±41 12.8
7.0–7.9 588 7464±11 3.7 7879±43 13.2
8.0–8.9 285 8393±17 3.5 8134±62 12.9
9.0 and more 73 9513±65 5.8 8364±121 12.4
Average 1726 7167±25 14.4 7850±29 13,1

The milk yield of daughters at the age of 3rd lactation in groups 2–4 was 9032–9177 kg
of milk (Table 4). The increase in the milk yield of mothers during the 3rd lactation from
6.0 to 9.0 thousand kg was accompanied by an increase in the milk yield of their daughters
compared to both mothers (by 2394-692 kg) and their herd mates (145 kg). The daughters
of the most highly productive cows (10.0 thousand kg or more) were the most milking
among their herd mates (9429 kg), but were significantly inferior to their mothers (by 1128
kg, P≤0.001).
The genetic potential of cows can be indirectly estimated by the level of their milk
yield. In our opinion, at a breeding plant the goal is to achieve a milk yield of at least 10
thousand kg of milk for 305 days of lactation. The economic efficiency of such animals is
considered to be the highest. We determined the number of highly productive cows (with a
milk yield of 10,000 kg of milk or more) aged from the 1st to the 3rd lactation, taking into
account the productivity of their mothers (Figure 1).

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Table 4. Level of milk yield of daughters in the 3rd lactation depending on the milk yield of mother
cows in the 3rd lactation.
Gradation of mothers Number of Milk yield for 305 days of the 3rd lactation, kg
by milk yield for 305 mother- mothers daughters
days of the third daughter
lactation, thousand kg pairs Х±m, kg Cv, % Х±m, kg Cv, %
Less than 6.0 7 5556±119 5,6 7608±490 17,1
6.0–6.9 42 6638±38 3,7 9032±203 14,6
7.0–7.9 84 7608±30 5,6 9056±154 15,6
8.0–8.9 111 8485±24 3,0 9177±208 15,1
9.0–9.9 64 9408±35 3,0 9373±174 14,9
10.0 and more 56 10557±62 4.4 9429±146 11.6
Average 364 8494±67 15.1 9176±71 14.8

The level of mothers’ milk yield during the first lactation did not have a significant
impact on the manifestation of high productivity in daughters [7, 10]. Thus, mothers of
different gradations in milk yield gave 0.2–1.5% of highly productive first-calf daughters.
By the 3rd lactation their number increased to 11.0–15.1%. Only based on the results of the
2nd lactation, more highly productive daughters were identified in the 2nd group of
mothers compared to the 1st group (11.6 versus 6.5%, P≤0.01).

Fig. 1. The number of highly productive daughter cows depending on the age and milk yield of
mothers.

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The analysis of the level of milk yield for the 3rd lactation showed that there is a
tendency for the number of highly productive cows to increase with an increase in the milk
yield of mothers. At the same time, the manifestation of high productivity of daughters
begins with the 2nd lactation (3.3–14.7%) and reaches a maximum in the 3rd lactation
(6.6–27.9%).
The largest number of cows with a milk yield of at least 10 thousand kg of milk were
obtained from mothers with the same high milk yield. Thus, in the 2nd lactation, 14.7% of
cows in this group were identified, which is significantly higher compared to those obtained
from mothers with a milk yield of 7.0–7.9 thousand kg (5.6%, P≤0.05). According to the
results of the 3rd lactation, the number of highly productive daughters in the group of 10
thousand kg or more was higher than in groups with mothers’ milk yield of less than 9.0
thousand kg of milk (27.9% versus 6.6–11.8%, P≤0.001).

4 Conclusion
Selection of cows based on the productivity of their mothers is an important part of
breeding work. Conducted studies show that high productivity in cows manifests itself at
the age of the 2nd lactation and older. To obtain highly productive daughter cows, it is
necessary to take into account the assessment of mothers based on the results of the 3rd
lactation.

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