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Abstract: The present study was carried out to estimate the seasonal variation of calving in Murrah buffaloes. The study was conducted in North West alluvial plain of Bihar (Chappra, Siwan and Samastipur), of India on 773 Murrah buffaloes, and these buffaloes were inseminated during June 2010 to December 2014 at BAIF’s field Artificial Insemination centres which provide door-step artificial insemination service at village’s level. The result indicated that the calving of Murrah buffaloes occurred throughout the year. In Chhapra maximum calving observed in August, i.e. 17% while 14% in October. September and November 13% each. Based on season majority of calving observed between July to January. In Samastipur maximum calving observed in August 16% while in September 14 % followed by November 13% and October month 11%. Based on season majority of calving observed between July to January months. In Samastipur maximum calving observed in August 16% while in September 14% followed by November 13% and October 11%. Based on season majority of calving found between July to January months. It could be concluded that Murrah buffaloes tend to calve more in the days with shorter photoperiod as compared to days with more extended photoperiod. Keywords: Buffalo, Caving, agro-climatic zones. |
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Abstract: The research on biomarkers to detect livestock treated with recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) is still an open issue. In fact, beyond undertaking confirmation methods, there is the need to develop simple and inexpensive screening tests. In this direction, some proposals have been forwarded, mostly involving the measurement of circulating molecules, whereas the possibility of using biomarkers related to gene expression is a field under investigation. The present study was carried out on sixteen buffalos, eight of which treated with rbST. Blood samples were collected six times during the treatment to investigate on the presence of differentially expressed genes in leukocytes. Analysis with the microarray technique was performed on two sampling moments, in order to obtain a first selection of genes. Further analysis was carried out by real time RT-PCR, in order to create a discriminating linear system. A study on the variation of the error related to the number of samples included in statistics was also performed. Results showed that, including an increasing number of samples to build the discriminating algorithm, the b-error grows and tends to stabilize on 6.5%. This study clearly shows the paramount importance of including a proper number of samples to obtain reliable algorithms.. Keywords: Recombinant bovine somatotropin, Buffalos, Biomarkers, Screening tests, Sample size.Download Full Article |
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Abstract: The river buffalo is an emerging production species worldwide; indeed, it is overtaking other cattle as a producer of meat and milk in some countries. Though both species belong to the Bovidae family, they show significant anatomical, physiological, and behavioral differences due to their different phylogenetic positions. The river buffalo is a rustic animal that can benefit from low-quality, fibrous forages due to its digestive system, in contrast to beef cattle or dairy cows. Besides, the buffalo cow’s reproductive apparatus has fewer cervical muscle rings and a shorter vagina and cervix. This species has maintained its seasonal breeding pattern, also in contrast to Bos indicus and Bos taurus. Even though buffaloes have an inefficient thermoregulating system, scarce hair, and a thicker epidermis, they are more resistant to tropical weather conditions if water for wallowing is available than dairy cows, which in turn adapt better to temperate zones. Due to the morphology of the river buffalo’s mammary glands, they produce less milk, while their conical teats with narrower sphincters decrease predisposition to mastitis compared to dairy cows. Thus, the study of the anatomical and physiological differences among river buffalo, Bos Taurus, and Bos Indicus will allow the implementation of strategies to improve the former’s productivity while also increasing welfare levels according to the production system in which they are raised. Keywords: Behavior, buffalo production, buffalo disease, cattle, river buffalo, dairy. |
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Abstract: Data on birth weight of Swamp buffalo calves that were born between 2015 and 2017 were collected and analyzed for this study. The objective was to estimate the effect of heritability and to evaluate the influence of environmental factors on the birth weight of swamp buffalo calves. The heritability was estimated using parent-offspring regression method while the environmental factors were measured using linear regression analysis. The average birth weight for swamp buffalo calves was 31.5 ± 5.33kg. It was significantly (p<0.05) affected by the age of dam and the year of birth but the body weight of the dam and the sex of calves did not significantly (p>0.05) influence the birth weight. The heritability of birth weight was estimated to be 0.29, which is low. Therefore, environmental and herd management factors seem to play a larger role in birth weight than genetics. The low estimated heritability obtained from this work indicates that improvement through selection may not be feasible. Keywords: Heritability estimation, birth weight, swamp buffalo calves, environmental factors. |
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Abstract: The present investigation was undertaken on data of Murrah buffaloes from Buffalo Research Centre (BRC), Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar distributed over 20 years (1987 to 2006). The sire effects and ranks of 38 sires were estimated on the basis of their daughters’ performance. The progeny group size of the sires ranged from 3 to 17. The sires were evaluated for the different first lactation production efficiency traits, viz. first lactation milk yield (FLMY), first lactation peak yield (FPY), persistency of first lactation milk yield (P), average yield per day of lactation (MY/FLL), milk yield per day of first calving interval (MCI) and milk yield per day of age at second calving (MSC). Sire's breeding values were estimated by the best linear unbiased procedure (BLUP). The estimated breeding values (EBV) for FLMY, FPY, P, MY/FLL, MCI and MSC ranged from –288.42 to 362.20 kg; -1.44 to 4.36 kg; -14.72 to 21.09; –0.44 to 0.63 kg/day; -0.40 to 0.52 kg and -0.09 to 0.16 kg, respectively. FLMY had high and significant product-moment and rank correlations with all other traits. The highest product-moment and rank correlations were obtained between FLMY and MSC to the tune of 0.863±0.043 and 0.835±0.050, respectively. The results indicated that sire coding 33 was the best and can be used for future breeding purpose. Keywords: Estimated breeding values, persistency, first lactation milk yield, first lactation peak yield, Murrah buffaloes. |