author(s)
Arun Prabhakar, Sofi Aaqib Rashid, Atul Kumar Singh Tomar, Vipin Maurya and Ganga Prakash Channa

abstract
The present study was conducted on a total of 24 Tharparkar cattle (Bos indicus) at Cattle and Buffalo farm (Indian Veterinary Research Institute. The objective was to study the effect of coat characteristics like coat colour, coat score coat thickness etc. on milk production and milk composition traits. Animals were divided into 2 groups: light grey (LG) and dark grey (DG), on the basis of coat colour. Light coloured and thin coated cattle produced more milk with higher values of milk fat, protein, milk solids etc. (p< 0.01). Coat score (higher coat score implies rough, long and a more wooly hair coat) had an inverse relationship with milk production as well as composition (p< 0.01). Cattle with lower hair densities (<400 hair/cm²) had higher milk yields (p< 0.05) than with higher hair densities (>400 hair/cm²). Other coat characteristics like weight of hair coat, hair diameter etc. did not show any significant effect either on milk yield or milk composition. From the present study, it can be concluded that skin and coat characteristics can be used as potential selection tools to improve production potential of cattle especially in tropics.