To study the dairy characters of lactating Murrah buffaloes on the basis of physical appearance and body parts measurements
Abstract
An experiment was undertaken to study the dairy characters of lactating Murrah buffaloes on the
basis of physical appearance and body parts measurements. The objective of the study was to
correlate the milk yield of Murrah buffaloes with certain body parts measurements and to find the
relationship between phenotypic characters and milk yield. Seventy lactating Murrah buffaloes were
selected from Buffalo Farm of LUVAS, Hisar. The buffaloes were selected at random basis in a range
from first to fifth parity. Traits studied were 305 days milk yield (MY), body weight (BW),body length
(BL), muzzle width (MW), lower jaw width (LJW), height at wither (HW), height at chest from ground
(HCG), abdominal girth (AG), chest girth (CG), body depth fore (BDF) and body depth rear (BDR),
hip bone distance (HBD), pin bone distance (PBD), skin thickness (STK), tail length (TL), tail switch
length (TSL) and white switch length(WSL). The phenotypic characters studied were head type, face
type, horn pattern, coat color, tail switch color, brisket distance, udder depth, teat tips, teat shape, rear
attachment of udder, fore and rear udder shape and temperament. The result of the study showed that
significant positive correlation found between milk yield and body weight (0.26), abdominal girth
(0.64) and muzzle width (0.42). Significant negative correlation was observed between milk yield and
skin thickness (-0.79). Most of the body parts measurements viz., body length, wither height, chest
girth, hip and pin bone distance and rear body depth measurements were positively associated with
milk yield but not up to level of significance. It can be inferred from present study that milk yield was
found significantly associated with most of phenotypic characters studied in relation to head type,
brisket distance, udder viz. udder depth, rear attachment, rear and fore udder shape and temperament.
Present study revealed that physical appearance, viz. face type, teat tips, horn pattern and tail switch
color did not influenced milk yield significantly in lactating Murrah buffaloes.