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Animal Husbandry - Buffalo01. Water Buffalo breeding 02. Breeding and Calving Seasons for Water Buffalo 03. Gestation period of different types of buffaloes 04. Reproductive Efficiency of Water Buffalo 05. Artificial insemination in buffalo - features Agri and Envt article spotlight How to build greenhouseArticle on greenhouse technology and explains how to build a greenhouse, Size of the Greenhouse, Structural Details, Sit... Latest agricultural articlesBiomass briquetting and utilization
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Under average village conditions in India, the feeding of buffalo calves is very much neglected and as a result, their maturity is delayed and their age at first calving is 4-5 years which is higher than that of farm bred animals under proper feeding and management. Late maturity and delay in conception increase the age of the heifers at first calving and thereby raise their cost of feeding and management considerably and also affect their life time production adversely. The breeding of heifers at an earlier age will definitely reduce the age at first calving and increase the efficiency of life-time milk production. In the Indian sub-continent, the average age of buffalo heifers at first calving is 40 months with a range of 30-50 months. In mullah breed of river of type buffalo, the age at first calving is found to be 44 months (on an average). In Indian buffalo in Military Dairy Farms it is 42 months while at IARI Delhi it is found to be 45 months. The Bhadhawari type of buffalo takes 50 months. According to a study on the optimum age at first calving it was. found that the buffalo heifers calving between 42:48 months and producing more than 1800 kg milk in first lactation are most economical; Table 2 gives observation recorded at various places in India. III. Breeding and Calving Seasons of BuffaloRecords indicate that India, the inter-regional difference in the reproductive trait of Indian water buffalo is very little. The breeding and corresponding calving seasons are almost same throughout India, the breeding season from September to February and the calving season from July to November. During this breeding period, the bulls have been found to be very active and the quality and quantity of sem*n is very high particularly during winter (November to February). The buffalo cow show the maximum of ovarian activity and largest percentage of them conceive during this period. This holds the same for river as well as swamp buffaloes. There is a big gap in our knowledge concerning the biology of seasonal periodicity in the domestic buffaloes. The existence of a biological mechanism which makes them sensitive to the breeding stimulus during a particular season of the year is well established, but the exact nature of the internal mechanism that controls seasonal responses is not known. The endocrine mechanism of any animal may be responsible for its seasonal periodicity. During the late autumn and early winter seasons average day length and daily temperature is associated with the s**ual vigour of the animal. High environmental temperature above 23.6 oC upsets the normal physiological functions of the buffaloes. High environmental temperature adversely affects spermatogenesis in the buffalo bulls and ovarian activities in the buffalo cows. It has been established that species evolved in the tropics and sub tropics do not respond to seasonal light stimuli and they appear to be activated by decreasing day length and or developing temperature. Although the seasons are not so markedly differentiated in the tropics and the sub tropics like the temperate zone, there are some perceptible variations between seasons which become very much pronounced in the tropical and monsoon belts within these regions. And with this these narrow seasonal variations the buffalo responds to seasonal influences which induce high or low intensity of se*uall behaviour during a particular season of the year. In a study conducted on murrah buffaloes it was found that the conception rate was highly correlated with day length and rainfall. The rainfall may be indirectly correlated with the conception rate through its effects on the growth of vegetation. The level of nutrition has been identified as an important factor on controlling reproduction of all animals. Among the climatic factor only. the effects of temperature and humidity are known from a limited number of experiments in India. There is a need of research and investigation on the factors responsible for the seasonal periodicity on the domestic water buffaloes and to find out suitable husbandry practices for extending its breeding period and thereby to maintain the supply of milk for a greater part of the year than at present. The breeding and calving seasons of water buffalo is seen in table 3 Table 3: Breeding and calving seasons of water buffalo
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