Pakistan J. Zool. Suppl. Ser., No.9, pp. 559-569, 2009.

Genetic Improvement of Buffaloes for Milk Production

R.K. Sethi
Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, Haryana 125 001 India

Abstract.- The paper gives an account of the buffalo population trend over the last one decade in India and
other major buffalo rearing countries in Asia highlighting the growth pattern on cattle and buffalo population in India
since 1951 to 2003 and in different states. Trends of buffalo milk production, per capita availability of milk and breeds
of buffaloes in different States have been indicated. Breeding policy is a state specific subject however, selective
breeding of the major buffalo breeds for milk production and grading up of the non-descript and low producing breeds
with breeds of superior genetic merit preferably Murrah is generally the accepted guideline. Results of the selective
breeding and progeny testing towards improving milk yield at various institutional herds, Military dairy farms, All
India Coordinated Research Project and Associated Progeny Testing under the Network Project on Buffalo
Improvement have been discussed highlighting the details of top ranking bulls from six sets for progeny testing.
Associated method of progeny testing increased population size, intensity of selection and number of daughters record
available for evaluation. Field progeny testing undertaken to substantiate the progeny testing at institutional herds
needed to undertake atleast 30 AI for making available one recorded daughter. Marker assisted selection and use of
sexed semen has been emphasized to facilitate early selection of individuals with desired set and characteristics in
order to improve productivity.

Key words: Buffalo breeds, Progeny Testing, Genetic response, crossbreeding, marker selection.

During the last 10 years world buffalo population

Buffaloes have been classified in two main
categories namely riverine and swamp buffaloes
depending upon variation in their habitat and
genome structure. River buffaloes are generally
large in size mostly with curled horns and are
mainly found in India, Pakistan and some of the
west Asian countries, prefer to enter clear water and
have 50 (2n) numbers of chromosomes and are
primarily used for milk production and also used for
meat production and draught power. Swamp
buffaloes are stocky animals with marshy land
habitats and have 48 (2n) numbers of chromosomes.
They were primarily developed for draught power in
paddy fields and haulage and are also used for meat
and milk production. Swamp buffaloes are mostly
found in south East Asian countries and few animals
are also available in north eastern states of India.
POPULATION
The world buffalo population is estimated to
be approximately 177.247 millions spread in some
42 countries of which 171 million (97%) of them
are found in Asia, while approximately 5.38
millions (3%) are found in rest of the world. India
has 98.7 millions and they number to approximately
55.7 percent of the total world buffalo population.
increased by approximately 18 millions showing
annual increase of about 1.13% which is mainly due
to the increase in Asian countries. The percent
increase in India was about 1.0% as compared to
1.09% in Asia and 2.58% in rest of the world (Table
I).
Buffaloes in India are spread over almost all
parts of the country with varying density of
population in different states and union territories.
The majority of the population (72%) is
concentrated in the north and western states where
most of the milch breeds of buffaloes are found
comprising Haryana, Punjab, Utar Pradesh,
Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. During the last
10 years there has been continuous growth of this
species in this region at the rate of about 2.1% per
annum as against the average growth rate of 1.0 %
in India. Data show highest buffalo population in
Uttar Pradesh followed by Andhra Pradesh and
Rajasthan (Fig. 1). However, percent growth in
buffalo population was recorded highest in Haryana
followed by Gujarat and Rajasthan. Recent trends in
these States reveal that the landless farmers are
loosing out, while medium and big farmers /
entrepreneurs are consolidating ownership over
milch animals especially buffaloes.
In dry land areas dependence on livestock is
critical for earning livelihood and provides milk and
560 R.K. SETHI

meat as protein source to the family besides manure, BUFFALO BREEDS

draught power and financial liquidity for running
day-to-day operations of family needs. India posses the best milch breeds of the
world namely Murrah, Nili Ravi, Surti, and
Jaffarabadi, which had their origin in north-western
Table I.- Trend of buffalo population in India and other states of India and have high potential for milk and
Asian countries fat production besides being used for work and
surplus stock used for meat production. There are
Country 1997 2007 Percent
change several other breeds in India which have regional
importance and add to economic value of the
India 89.91 (56.48) 98.7 (55.7) 0.98 farming community viz. Bhadawari and Tarai in
Pakistan 20.83 (13.08) 28.16 (15.88) 3.51 Uttar Pradesh, Nagpuri and Pandharpuri in
China 21.73 (13.65) 22.72 (12.81) 0.45 Maharashtra; Parlakhemundi, Manda, Jerangi,
Asia 154.91 171.86 1.09
(97.31) (96.96) Kalahandi, Sambalpur in Orissa and Andhra
Rest of world 4.28 (2.69) 5.385 (3.04) 2.58 Pradesh, Toda in Tamil Nadu and South Kanara in
World 159.19 177.247 1.13 Karnataka and Kerala. Mehsana breed has been
developed from grading up of Surti buffaloes with
Source : Fao.org/stat 2008
Murrah in Mehsana District of Gujarat. Similarly
continued grading up of local non-descript buffaloes
with Murrah breed in Krishna and Godawari District
of Andhra Pradesh has resulted into a strain
popularly known as Godavari.

TRENDS OF BUFFALO MILK PRODUCTION

Milk production in India remained more or

Fig. 1. Growth pattern of cattle and
buffalo population in India – All India 1951-
2003.
The state of Madhya Pradesh, which posses
large population of non descript buffaloes has
shown higher growth rate of 2.20% while Karnataka
indicated negative growth rate of 1.49 % during the
last five years. The high growth rate in Andhra
Pradesh has mainly been attributed due to increasing
trend of buffalo production for milk by migrating
high yielding buffaloes from the breeding tracts of
Murrah from Haryana and towards meat production
from low yielding and surplus male stock while in
Rajasthan it is primarily due to the increased
demand of buffalo milk in the State milk catchment
area of NCR Delhi and the average growth rate has
been 1.07% while Gujarat indicated the highest
growth rate of 2.15% and the state posses some of
the best well defined breeds of buffaloes.
less stagnant from 1950 to 1970. Thereafter, it
increased rapidly, reaching 80.6 million tones in
2001 and to 104.0 million tones during 2008-09
with average growth rate of about 1 to 1.5%. The
per capita availability of milk increased from 112
gm per day in 1973-74 to about 226 gm per day in
2001 – 02 and 245 gm per day during 2007 - 08.
However, it is still below the world average of 285
gm per day. The trend of total milk production and
the average growth rate per annum since 1950-51 is
presented (Table II).
About 56% of the total milk produced in the
country is contributed by buffaloes inspite of the
number of adult buffaloes being only 50% to the
milch cattle population indicating higher production
potential of buffaloes as compared to cattle. The
average milk production potential of buffaloes in
India is approximately 1400 kg as compared to 900
kg in cattle including crossbreds. In India, meat
production is largely a by-product system of
livestock production utilizing spent animals at the
end of their productive life and surplus males.
 GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF BUFFALOES
Table II.- Trend of annual total and buffalo milk
production and growth rate since 1950-51
(million tones).
Year Total Buffalo Per capita
milk milk availability
(gm/day)
1950-51-60-61 20.37 (1.64) 11.08 (2.30)
1960-61-73-74 23.20 (1.15) 12.76 (1.51)
1973-74-80-81 31.60 (4.51) 18.86 (5.97)
1980-81-90-91 54.06 (5.68) 28.67 (5.20)
1990-91-00-01 80.64 (4.21) 45.40 (5.83)
2000-01-06-07 100.0 (3.53) 56.20 (3.40)
( ) : Percent growth per annum
Source: Deptt. of A H & D Deptt. Statistics
BUFFALO BREEDING POLICY
The broad framework of cattle and buffalo
breeding policy was formulated for the country
since mid sixties, on the basis of which states have
to evolve their own breeding policies. The national
breeding policy for buffalo is selective breeding of
the major buffalo breeds for milk, grading up of the
non-descript and low producing breeds of buffaloes
with Murrah.
Most of the states have well defined breeding
policy, with the main features being in consonance
with the central policy. However, in almost all the
states farmers prefer to keep buffaloes due to easy
manageability, high fat content in milk and
availability of female calf for rearing as buffalo and
surplus males for draught power and for meat
production.
For buffalo breeds of less significance found
in different states selective breeding is the
appropriate system looking into the feed and fodder
/ resource availability in the various agro climatic
zones and upward performance of upgraded
animals. Non-descript animals are upgraded with
breeds of superior genetic merit in order to bring in
genes of milk production and other performance
traits in these animals (Table III).
CONSERVATION OF BUFFALO GENETIC
RESOURCES
The last few decades have witnessed serious
erosion of some of the indigenous animal breeds in
the country. Many existing breeds are facing
561
varying degree of threat, endangerment and are
heading towards eventual elimination. Indigenous
animals have high biodiversity and are considered to
have higher disease resistance, better tolerance to
high hot and humidity conditions prevalent in
different agro-climatic zones. These animals are
124 also more efficient in feed conversion efficiency of
112 crop residues and naturally available low quality
128 roughages.
176 There is a large network of central and state
220
245
government farms established with the objectives of
young bull production, their evaluation and
distribution in the field for breeding with the
ultimate aim of breed conservation and
improvement. Some of these farms are now
engaged in semen production and distribution in the
state as per breeding policy. A large number of
farms with NGOs, Pinjrapales and Gaushals
maintain large number of good quality animals and
are the in-situ and ex-situ conservation and breed
improvement centres.
Incentives/awards initiated by some of the
state Governments for cash incentives to the owners
of high quality animals is a step towards
conservation and improvement. e.g. incentives for
Murrah by the state government varying from Rs.
5000 to 15000 per lactation based on the milk yield.
Some of the breeders associations have come
up who are undertaking breed improvement and
conservation of livestock. Banni Pashu Ucherak
Maldhari Sangathan, Milk cooperatives/unions/Milk
Plants have established their milk shed areas and
undertaken breed improvement activities.
ICAR has established NBAGR at Karnal, a
nodal agency to undertake activities on
identification, evaluation, characterization,
conservation and utilization of livestock of Poultry
genetic resources. Ex-situ conservation of
Bhadawari, Tarai, Surti, Murrah Pandharpuri, Asia
Swamp buffaloes has been initiated.
GENETIC IMPROVEMENT FOR MILK
PRODUCTION
Limited selection has been applied at
institutional herds in different parts of the country
primarily on Murrah buffaloes. The results
of selective breeding and progeny testing directed
562 R.K. SETHI

Table III.- The minimum pedigree standards for sires to be used for breeding as set by the DAH&D.

Breed Sire’s dam lactation yield (kg) Daughters’ averages (of the sire used)
Farm born Fat % Min number Average first lactn. Yield Reliability (%)
First Best of records (kg)

Murrah 2400 3000 7 30 1800 85

Mehsana 2400 3000 7 30 1800 85
Nili Ravi 2400 3000 7 30 1800 85
Jaffrabadi 2800 3500 8 30 2000 85
Surti 1600 2000 7 30 1600 85

towards improving milk yield at various institutional
herds are discussed.
Military Dairy farms followed the policy of
culling and selection since beginning. Initially the
level of culling for replacement of stock was 1350 lt
for first lactation, which was revised to 1600 kg in
1966 and to 1800 kg in 1968. The standard for
rearing of males was 2700 kg. As a result of
intensive culling the lactation averages of buffaloes
improved from 1443 kg to 2080 kg within two
decades. Selection of males at these standards on
the basis of dam’s yield should have generated
genetic gain of about 100 lt per generation but the
result did not show the expected improvement. Sire
evaluation of bulls indicated highest breeding value
of +247 above the population mean, 13% bulls had
breeding value more than +100 and only 4 bulls
were with breeding value more than 10% above the
population mean at military dairy Farms.
All India coordinated Research Project
(AICRP) on buffalo breeding was launched in 1970
at four centers namely PAU, Ludhiana and NDRI,
Karnal each for large sized buffaloes, comprising
mainly Murrah breed. Sukhadia University,
Vallabhanagar (Rajasthan) and University of
Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad (Karnataka) for
small/medium sized buffaloes comprising mainly
Surti and Mehsana breed. The objectives of the
project were to improve the production potential of
buffaloes through assessment of genetic merit of
sires and to increase the production by breeding,
feeding and management. Results of progeny
testing at NDRI Karnal, from 1970 to 1993 show
that number of bulls in each set ranged from 4 to 8
and the number of daughters from each bull ranged
from 2 to 23. the superiority of the top ranking bull
selected from each set over the contemporary
daughters varied from 7 to 99% from the 6 sets
(Nagarcenkar and Sethi, 1988). At PAU Ludhiana
superiority of top ranking bulls over their
contemporaries, ranged from 12.1 to 42.4% in 5
sets. Chadha et al. (2004) estimated breeding value
of 36 bulls used from 1976 to 1996 by 3 methods
namely best linear unbiased predictor, least square
mean and contemporary comparison method and
found that ranking of top 20% bulls was almost
similar by all the three methods. The breeding value
of bulls by contemporary comparison method
ranged from 1431 to 2205 kg. These estimates were
also close to the breeding value estimated by Vij
and Tiwana (1986) from the same herd.
Buffalo improvement programs through bull
selection on the basis of progeny performance and
distribution in the field were taken up at several
state and central government farms e.g. Alamadi
farm Chennai, Livestock farm Banawasi,
Government cattle breeding farm Anjora,
government livestock farm Hisar all for Murrah
breed and Government livestock farm Dhamrod for
Surti breed. At most of these farms several batches
of bulls were evaluated following natural breeding
system and operated on small herds.
At MPUAT Vallabhnagar, results of progeny
testing on institutional herds of Surti buffaloes show
that progeny per bull varied from 8 to 17 in first 4
sets of bulls and superiority of the selected bulls
over contemporary daughters ranged from 22.62 to
2.71%. To strengthen the institutional progeny
testing program, 2259 farmers animals of surti breed
spread over 5 villages have been covered in the
 GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF BUFFALOES
project. 58.0% registered farmers had buffalo unit
between 1-3 while only 13.4% had buffalo unit
more than 5. The impact of the program is that
proportion of non-descript animals reduced from
18.27 to 15.27% while Surti type buffaloes
increased from 43.84 to 48.25% in the project area.
Number of daughters per bull in the field range from
7-24 and 32-44 from set II and III set respectively.
Mehsana District Cooperative Milk Producers
Union in Mehsana district initiated improvement
program during 1987 in association with NDDB.
Under this program, so far 95 bulls in 8 sets have
completed test mating. The overall average of 305
day first lactation yield of daughters born under the
program was 1933 lt. based on 3279 observations
(Namjoshi and Trivedi, 2002).
National project on cattle and buffalo
breeding is one of the major programme being
undertaken for the overall improvement of buffaloes
in all the states. Efforts are being made to identify
superior germplasm and its dissemination for use of
farmer’s buffaloes. Minimum standards for each
breed have been laid down for selection of superior
bulls and quality norms for germplasm production.
ASSOCIATED HERDS PROGENY TESTING
The associated herds progeny testing through
Network Project on Buffalo Improvement was
initiated in 1993 with the objective to increase the
intensity of selection of bulls from large population
and increased number of progeny per bull for testing
in Murrah buffaloes. 12-15 bulls are tested on about
800 breedable buffaloes located at 6 institutional
herds participating in this project namely PAU
Ludhiana, HAU Hisar and NDUAT Faizabad from
SAUs, CIRB Hisar, NDRI Karnal and IVRI
Izatnagar from ICAR institutions. From each bull
Table IV.- List of top ranking bulls along with their pedigrees and % superiority from the first five sets of bulls.
Set Bull no. Date of birth Dam no.
no.
I 392 06.04.89 238
II 761 20.11.90 474
III 1153 13.08.93 701
IV 1506 24.04.95
V 4393 10.12.95 2762
563
60-70 pregnancies are obtained over 18 months test
cycle so as to make available 15-20 recorded
daughters spread over all the centres. Test mating
from 10 sets of bulls have been completed.
Eleventh set of 13 bulls started from July 2008 and
shall continue up to December 2009. All bulls
selected for breeding are subjected to disease
surveillance schedule for Brucellosis, tuberculosis
and Para tuberculosis. The disease testing is
conducted prior to the entry of the bull for semen
collection and subsequently at six months interval.
The bulls that react positive to the test are
immediately isolated and retested for confirmation.
Progeny test evaluation of 6 sets of bulls
under the Network Project show considerable
increase in the number of daughters per bull which
ranged from 13 to 26 in first set, 10 to 16 daughters
in the second and 7 to 13 daughters in the third set
on the basis of which bulls were progeny tested.
Percent superiority of the 20% top ranking bulls in
the sets ranged from 22.8% to 5.5%, 9.37% and
13.11 to 9.50 respectively. List of top ranking bulls
along with their pedigree and % superiority from the
first five sets of bulls is presented below (Table IV).
MILK PRODUCTION
From selective breeding through progeny
testing in Murrah buffaloes, consistent increase in
305 day or less lactation milk yield has been
reported from PAU Ludhiana, IVRI Izatnagar and
HAU, Hisar over the last 5 years. Variation in
lactation milk yield observed at various centres over
the years has primarily been attributed due to
management and environmental variations over the
years. Weighted average estimated during the year
2008-09 kg (Table V).
Sire no. Dams yield Sire index % superiority over cont.
(kg) daughters
PQ1 2594 2118 22.8
366 2878 1987 9.37
896 2540 1957 12.27
988 3018 2089 18.81
1908 3898 2187 22.29
564
Table V.- Production and reproduction characteristics of different breeds of buffaloes during the year 2008-09.
Breed Av. Age at 1st Av. Service period
calving (months) (days)
Murrah* 44.6±1.1 (154) 147±11 (333)
Nili Ravi 39.7±1.8 (69) 172±12 (70)
Surti 51.5±1.5 (13) 96±7 (20)
Bhadawari 51.2±1.3 (6) 149±26 (15)
Pandharpuri 43.3 (02) 85±6 (14)
Swamp** 49.3 (1) 135±9 (11)
* Weighted average from the participating centres under Network Project
** Field animals
Performance evaluation and improvement of
other important breeds of buffaloes under Network
Project on Buffalo Improvement involves Nili Ravi
breed at CIRB sub campus Nabha Panjab,
Jaffarabadi breed at JAU Junagarh Gujarat,
Bhadawari breed at IGFRI Jhansi Uttar Pradesh,
Surti breed at MPUAT Vallabhnagar Rajashthan
and Pandharpuri breed at MPKV Kolhapur
Maharastra. At each of these centres an elite herd of
50 to 60 buffaloes for young bull production, bull
rearing and semen freezing laboratory has been
established. From each bull about 3-4 thousand
doses of semen are frozen. For test mating 8-10
bulls in each set are used for 18 months duration on
farmers buffaloes covering a breedable population
of about 3000 buffaloes in the field with the target
to breed at least 150 animals from each bull and to
obtain at least 20 recorded daughters from each bull
for progeny test evaluation. 25% top ranking bulls
are selected for nominated mating on the elite
buffaloes at the farm as well as on identified
buffaloes in the field. Production and reproduction
characteristics of some of the important breeds are
presented in Table below.
Average lactation milk production of farmers
buffaloes in the field has been estimated based on
the survey reports for Jaffarabadi buffaloes ranging
from 2520 to 2802 kg (Singh et al., 2003), for
Mehsana breed 1823 kg, (Pundir and Singh, 2003),
for Surti buffaloes ranging from 701 to 1600 kg
from 1201 to 1350 kg (Bharat et al., 2003) and for
Nili Ravi buffaloes 1926+48 kg (Singh et al., 2003)
indicating the presence of wide variability in
different breeds of buffaloes and scope for
improvement through selection.
R.K. SETHI
Av. Dry period Av. 305 day or less Av. Calving
(days) milk yield (kg) interval (days)
148±10 (260) 2075±54 (404) 450±11 (260)
172±11 (70) 1929±68 (108) 489±16 (70)
170±16 (20) 1566±46 (34) 481±18 (20)
207±32 (15) 1434 (31) 499±34 (15)
101±8 (13) 1841 (19) 426±11 (14)
178±18 (11) 412 (6) 440± 9 (11)
GENETIC PROGRESS
This system of progeny testing in small herds
resulted in low genetic gain in first lactation milk
yield of 4.5 kg per annum, which was about 0.27%
of the herd average of 1850 kg. Genetic gain
estimated in individual herds has been reported to be
very low in different herds which varied from
0.50% at NDRI Karnal (Sahana and Sadana, 1998).
0.98% at PAU Ludhiana (Chadha, 1998) and 0.82%
per annum in 305 day first lactation yield at CIRB
Hisar (Sethi, 1998) estimated over the time scale
using different methods.
At military Dairy Farms expected genetic
gain was only 6 kg per annum, which is only 0.37%
of the herd averages while estimated 12.16 kg
response to selection was observed, assuming
intensity of selection as 0.34 corresponding to the
80% selection of individuals from 7 military dairy
farms (Singh et al., 2003). Taylor et al. (1994) also
estimated 6.07 and 5.78 per cent response to
selection in total first lactation milk yield and 305
day first lactation milk yield through mass selection
in Surti buffalo.
Chakaravarty and Rathi (1989) analysed data
on 1340 buffaloes from 3 military dairy farms and
found that selection of buffaloes on the basis of 12
month weight was more desirable as this produced
higher weight at 18 months by 3.04 kg. higher milk
yield by 29.2 kg and decreased age at first calving
by 6 days. It was further emphasized that correlated
response was less as compared to the direct genetic
response in early expressed traits. There have been
several factors responsible for low rate of genetic
response, which are discussed below.
 GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF BUFFALOES
LIMITATIONS OF PROGENY TESTING AT
INSTITUTIONAL HERDS
Small population size
Most of the institutional herds, where
progeny testing programs were undertaken and
small herds of 150 to 300 animals. This is why
small batches of 4 to 8 bulls were evaluated in each
set and ranked on small progeny size ranging from 3
to 4 daughters per bull. Gaur et al. (2003) also
revealed that genetic progress per generation
increased with the increase in population size,
increase in proportion of population mated to young
bulls.
Low intensity of selection
Two major factors for achieving fast
improvement are the accuracy of selection and the
intensity of selection. Which on small herds size,
even with efficient artificial insemination programs,
are hard to achieve. Since we cannot test several
sons of selected sires (SS), which is tht major source
of genetic progress (43%). A maximum genetic
gain of 193.3 litres per generation was expected
when the test was done on 8 daughters per bull and
2 out of 15 tested bulls were selected and the test is
based on 10 daughters per bull in the artificial
insemination program the intensity of selection from
female path remains low because at least 80% of the
female stock is retained for future breeding.
Large generation interval
In most of the buffalo progeny testing
programme the sires have been used for long
duration resulting in overlapping of generations.
This increased the environmental variance in
progeny test evaluation and reduced the genetic gain
per unit time. This has been overcome by reducing
the test mating duration for candidate bulls to only
18 months, optimum feeding and management of
young bull calves for future sets so that they become
fit for breeding by the age of 2 to 2.5 years,
optimum feeding and management of heifers to
bring down the age at first calving to about 3 years
and computerization of herd records to obtain
prompt evaluation of progeny performance and
evaluation of cows for elite mating. (Nagarcenkar
and Sethi, 1988).
565
FIELD PROGENY TESTING
Field progeny testing under Network Project
on Buffalo Improvement was initiated to strengthen
the ongoing sire evaluation programe of associated
herds progeny testing at institutional herds by
involving performance recording on farmers
animals using the semen of bulls selected under the
Network Project. The details of AI, pregnancies,
calvings and daughters born during the year 2007-
08 (Table VI.)
Average CR from artificial insemination in
the field is estimated as 39.8% for murrah centres
and 40.1% for centres of other breeds as depicted in
the above table. It is estimated that for each
recorded daughter we need to undertake about 25 to
30 AI in field depending upon the migration rate of
heifers in specific area.
IMPROVEMENT THROUGH
CROSSBREEDING
Crossbreeding among riverine breeds has
been taken up in several countries to combine the
desirable genes in parental breeds in order to
improve the milk production potential. In an
experiment undertaken at NDRI Karnal on
crossbreeding of Murrah and Surti breeds it was
found that in crossbreds there was some
improvement in milk production and reproductive
performance. Milk yield per day of calving interval
in crossbreds was 3.4 kg while in Murrah buffaloes
reared in the same environment it was 3.2 kg (Basu
and Sarma, 1982).
In Gujarat farmers undertook extensive
breeding of Surti buffaloes with Murrah. Mehsana
breed is said tohave been evolved from above
crossing. Mehsana District Cooperative Milk
Producers Union in Mehsana district initiated
improvement program during 1987 in association
with NDDB. Under this program so far 95 bulls in
8 sets have completed test mating. The overall
average of 305 day first lactation yield of daughters
born under the program was 1933 lt based on 3279
observations (Namjoshi and Trivedi, 2002). In the
recent past, majority of the Surti buffaloes in
Gujarat have been mated with the bulls/semen from
Murrah breed.
566 R.K. SETHI

Table VI.- Total AI, Calving, PD, Conception and daughter’s milk recording in Field Units during 07-08.

Murrah breed AI PD Total calving Daughters born Daughters Milk Recording

calved

GADVASU, Ludhiana 4015 1438 870 368 26 19

CIRB, Hisar 2132 1202 772 311 7 13
NDRI, Karnal 2594 864* 710 333 52 34
NDUAT, Faizabad 372 122 143 61 - -
Total 9113 3626 2495 1073 85 66

Other breed
Jaffarabadi (JAU, Junagadh) 3651 1615 873 431 - -
Surti (LRS, Vallabhnagar) 1811 542 418 167 22 13
Godavari (SVVU, Ven’gudam) 1436 619 428 202 - -
Pandharpuri (MPKV, Kolhapur) 4278 1701 1254 554 - -
Total 11176 4477 2973 1354 22 13

In Andhra Pradesh extensive breeding of
local non-descript buffaloes with Murrah by farmers
in the Krishna deltaic region has resulted into the
origin of a new strain of buffaloes popularly known
as Godawari. Performance recording and
improvement of this breed has been initiated at
ANGRAU Venkataramanagudem, Hyderabad under
the Network Project on Buffalo improvement of
ICAR. At this center an elite herd of 50 buffaloes
has been established for young bull production.
Facilities for bull rearing and semen freezing have
been established. Each set comprises of 8-10 bulls
and from each bull 4 thousand doses of semen are
frozen. For test mating approximately 3000 farmers
buffaloes have been identified for breeding through
AI over test cycle of 18 months. Survey conducted
on farmer’s animals in this tract show milk
production and other performance traits of Godavari
buffaloes at par with Murrah while at the institute
herd 305 day all lactation average has been
estimated as 2062 kg which is equivalent to the milk
production potential of Murrah buffaloes.
ONBS FOR ENHANCING GENETIC GAIN
Though the technique of MOET in buffaloes
is still under standardization but this has been made
use of as a breeding tool in ONBS for faster
multiplication of superior germplasm and obtaining
higher genetic gain. A single herd open mixed
MOET program was planned by NDDB (Trivedi,
1992) at its Buffalo Breeding centre located at
Nekarikallu (AP). The project envisaged to select
32 top buffaloes from 250 buffaloes, 4 donors
assigned to each bull with total 8 bulls in each set,
16 embryos per donor to be recovered in 5 to 6
flushing every year and 8 pregnancies per donor
with expected 4 male and 4 females calves born. It
was planned to evaluate bulls on two Dam’s
records, 4 full sibs records and 12 half sibs records
from 8 families and select one young bull per family
for the next cycle.
MARKER ASSISTED SELECTION FOR
EARLY SELECTION
Allelic variation ranging from 9 to 36% was
observed by RAPD primers in high and low yielding
buffaloes. Sequence, showing the highest
polymorphism in buffaloes associated with high and
low lactation milk yield was identified. Similarly,
genotypic differentiation for buffaloes with varying
AFC and Service period has also been demonstrated
(Sethi and Sikka, 2004). Murrah buffaloes with Tf-
DD phenotypes produced maximum (2930 kg) milk
in a lactation and transferin and albumin variants
were recommended to be used as gene markers for
the selection of high yielding animals at an early age
(Rohilla, 2003). Top down model of marker assisted
selection with 30 to 40 progeny per bull has been
recommended for increasing the genetic gain by 1-
2% (Thangaraju, 2002). Buffalo genomic work has
been initiated for identification of molecular
markers associated with performance traits.
 GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF BUFFALOES
MEAT PRODUCTION
Buffalo meat production accounts for about
30% of the total 4.9 million tones meat production
in the country and their contribution is next to milk
as major source of livestock economy and comes to
about 16% of the total output of the livestock sector.
During the last 25 years meat production has
increased from 764,000 tonnes in 1970-71 to 4.9
million tones indicating average growth rate during
the last two decades at 4.6% as against 21% during
the last 5 years (Qureshi and Ranjhan, 2004). This
shows the recent increasing trend and interest of
buffalo producers in meat production.
Buffalo meat is generally produced from
spent buffaloes and emaciated young male calves.
Dressing percentage in such animals is low and
varies between 40 to 45% with average carcass
weight as low as 138 kg. However, dressing
percentage in these animals can be substantially
increased by proper feeding prior to slaughter and in
such animals growth rate as high as 1000 gm per
day has been reported under feed lot system
(Ranjhan, 2007).
Dry matter intake of such animals is generally
more than 3% of body weight and dressing
percentage as high as 55 to 60% can be achieved. A
strong need has been felt to establish a production
base around each modern abattoir to produce quality
disease free animals as per the sanitary and
phytosanitary (SPS) requirement of OI standards
(Qureshi and Ranjhan, 2004).
In experimental trials on daily body weight
gain up to 541 gm per day has been achieved under
conventional concentrate feeding system. Weight
gain during summer months is higher than in hot
humid months. (Bharadwaj and Sethi, 1994).
DRAUGHT POWER
Buffaloes in most part of the country are
primarily used for milk, spent buffaloes and young
and emaciated males are sent to slaughter houses for
meat production while adult males are generally
used for work. Buffalo males of Murrah breed have
efficient work capacity especially for load pulling
and ploughing in rice cultivation. Though, buffalo
bulls are slower in movement than cattle but they
567
can pull heavier load and cover about 3.2 km per
hour as compared to 4.8 to 6.4 km per hour by draft
bullocks (Taneja, 1999). Draught power of
buffaloes, varies with breed, body size and body
weight. Large buffalo bulls are able to pull heavy
load but are not maneuverable like small and
compact animals and hence move slowly
(Upadhyay, 1999). Buffaloes can generally work
for 6 – 8 h continuously at light work, 4 – 6 h at sub
maximal work and 3 -4 h at heavy work. Besides
being strong enough for draught power, buffaloes
can work in deep muddy soil in comparison to any
other animal.
Buffalo bullocks can draw heavier loads than
cow bullocks but are slower (3.2 km per hour than
the later (4.8 km per hour) of draught cattle breeds.
Field studies on rural Murrah buffaloes used
exclusively for transport showed that they are
capable of pulling loads 6 times greater than their
body weight in pneumatic tyred bullock carts. The
usual load carrying capacity of buffalo is 1.5 to 2
tones continuously for 2 to 3 hrs and for 6 to 8 hrs in
a day during winter and 5 to 6 hrs in summer
(Upadhaya, 1988). However she buffaloes, can
work for moderate work for a period of 1 to 2 hrs
continuously without affecting their milk yield
(Bhoite and Deokar, 2004).
FUTURE PERSPECTIVES
The major thrust is on genetic improvement
of well established breeds of buffaloes using proven
semen and high quality pedigreed bulls and by
expanding artificial insemination network to provide
services at the farmer’s door. Upgradation of non-
descript stock with defined breed.
Choice of breed for improvement
Murrah is the choice of breed for
improvement of large buffalo population in the
country. In order to cover large breedable
population of approximately 42 - 45 million
buffaloes through AI and or natural service, major
share of superior breeding bulls and germplasm lies
on Murrah breed as improver breed besides the
requirement for selective breeding in this breed.
However, other breeds with established
production records such as Jaffarabadi, Surti,
568 R.K. SETHI
Godavari and Banni need to be conserved and
improved in their respective breeding tracts suitable
to the agro-ecological and social conditions and
breeding policy enacted by the statement
government.
Germplasm requirement
Assuming 20 % of the total breedable
population (45 million) to be covered through AI
and 80 % through Natural Service, it is estimated
that we require approximately 60,000 breeding bulls
and 14.70 million frozen semen doses to cover
entire breedable population. 10% bulls (Approx.
6000) to be replaced annually.
Availability
There are several institutional farms in
different parts of the country which maintain
buffaloes of Murrah breed. Network Project centres,
Semen stations of livestock development boards in
various states; NDDB, BAIF and NGO’s are
striving for production and procurement of selected
germplasm/superior breeding bulls. All agencies put
together shall have approximately 600 – 700 Murrah
bulls and 150 – 200 bulls of all other breeds being
used for Semen production and selective breeding as
against the requirement of 5000 – 6000 bulls per
annum. All other bulls being used in field by the
farmers are either non-selected bulls with low
genetic merit or bulls being used for draught
purpose.
There is urgency for identification, evaluation
and utilization of superior quality breeding bulls
from field to meet the above requirement.
Zones of superior buffaloes
The breeding zones for Murrah, Jaffarabadi,
Suri, Banni breeds identified as the improver breed
shall be developed in States as germplasm
production zones to meet out the requirement of
breeding males for NS as weel as for semen freezing
as per the MSP requirement.
Identification and Selection of Superior germplasm
from the breeding zones
From the above proposed breeding zones, we
need to identify and select about one percent elite
buffaloes with the farmers. These animals be
subjected to foolproof identification marker system
and be called as improver buffaloes and owners of
these buffaloes given the fellowship to retain the
animal and follow selective breeding from chosen
bulls under the breed improvement program. All
selected buffaloes be bred with the semen of
progeny tested bulls or bulls with proven records.
Identification and rearing of young males
All male and female calves born need to be
identified immediately after birth with foolproof
identification system. All males at one year of age
may be procured at remunerative price from the
farmers and kept at the bull rearing stations.
Bull rearing and semen freezing stations
Existing bull rearing stations, with the
Livestock Department/ Boards/State Animal
Husbandry Deptts. shall be strengthened to have
sufficient infrastructure to have the young bulls for
rearing and the adult breeding bulls under semen
production along with State of the art semen
freezing laboratory.
Breeders associations
Breed societies and Breeders association shall
be encouraged to undertake breed improvement
work and undertake the production of superior
germplasm. These breeders associations should also
monitor the trade/marketing of buffaloes while
retaining the superior germplasm in the breeding
zones.
Buffalo network
Buffalo Network needs to be developed
which shall associate various agencies involved in
buffalo improvement, demand and supply of
germplasm within and outside the country,
migration of gene pool within the country and
develop database on buffalo genetic resources,
monitoring and evaluation of progress.
Marker assisted selection
Buffalo genomic work has been initiated for
identification of molecular markers associated with
performance traits.
 GENETIC IMPROVEMENT OF BUFFALOES
Sexed semen
Selection of sex of offspring in livestock
depends on the economic importance and utilization
of species. In dairy animals like buffalo and cattle,
females are preferred. However to meet the
requirement of large number of breeding bulls,
males from desired sires and dams can be produced
with pre-sexed semen. This can be done by cell
sorter using weight difference in male and female
spermatozoa.
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