Reciprocal effects among local breeds and additive and heterosis effects were estimated for total milk production per lactation (TLP), lactation length (LL) and daily milk yield (DMY). Procedures for an optimum crossbreeding system were examined by comparing various crossbred combinations. Three data sets were chosen from the total records collected from 1962 to 1997. Data set I with a total of 5,938 records composed of 9 breed groups for reciprocal crosses, data set II with a total of 6,064

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... ords composed of 5 breed groups for additive and heterosis effects and data set III with a total of 10,319 records composed of 42 breed groups for optimum crossbreeding system were analyzed. The least squares ANOVA was used. The reciprocal crosses between Red Sindhi and the Bangladeshi Local showed significant difference. When the Red Sindhi was used as cow, the cross was superior to the opposite in terms of the three performance traits. The results showed that additive breed effects on both TLP and DMY were positive and highly significant between Bos indicus and Bos taurus, whereas the individual heterosis effects were not significant. In general, any local breeds were improved two to three times by crossing with the Friesian once or twice. However, the effect was reduced when the grading up with the Friesian was repeated more than twice. On the other hand, when the local breed was crossed with the other breeds such as Holstein and Jersey, the improvement of TLP was less. Crossing the F 1 cows with the Friesian bull gave further improvement. Almost the same trends were found also for LL and DMY. The local breeds and their crosses are raised mainly for draft animals, then it is recommended that the crossbreds between the local cows and Friesian are used for dairy purposes and more than 75% Friesian blood is used for beef. (Asian-Aust.