Md Khan
Doctor of Philosophy, (Animal Breeding and Genetics)
Study Completed: 2010
College of Sciences
Citation
Thesis Title
Development of models for the genetic improvements of dairy cattle under cooperative dairying conditions in Bangladesh
Read article at Massey Research Online: 
In Bangladesh, there is a great shortage of milk to meet the nutritional demands of Bangladeshi people. The main aim of this thesis was to examine genetic approaches to assist with the improvement of milk yield from dairy cattle. Test-day records were used in ten different mathematical models of lactation curves. The best mathematical model was used to predict cow 270-day lactation yields which were then used to develop deterministic models, breeding objectives and multi-trait stochastic simulation models, to assist with the evaluation of different breeding schemes. All breeding schemes studied improved the rate of genetic gain relative to that currently being achieved in Bangladesh. This study revealed that genetic improvement is a vital strategy to increase dairy farming profit, which will assist in alleviating poverty and increase food security in Bangladesh
Supervisors
Professor Hugh Blair
Professor Nicolas Lopez-Villalobos