Effect of THI changes on haematobiochemical and hormonal parameters

Livestock sector is emerging as an important growth leverage of the Indian economy. As a component of agricultural sector, its share in Gross Domestic Product has been rising gradually, while that of crop sector has been on the decline. Animal Resources of India are perhaps the richest in the world. India is one of the few countries in the world that has contributed abundantly to the international livestock gene pool. Cattle breeds of Indian origin are being exploited in quite a few countries including Australia, South Africa, Latin America and USA for developing major livestock economies (FAO, 1998) with about 485.0 million livestock alone (excluding poultry). India has about 19% of the world cattle and buffalo population (FAO, 2008). India have 26 well recognized breeds of cattle, out of which only 4 are of dairy type namely Sahiwal, Red Sindhi, Tharparkar and Gir. Among these Sahiwal is one of the best dairy breed of tropical and sub-tropical regions. India possesses few heads of Sahiwal but not more than 3000 heads out of which 2000 are breedable females and are maintained only in some organized farms.