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Field level study on the buffalo bullock: An excellent draught animal |
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| รหัสดีโอไอ | |
| Creator | 1. Aruna Pal 2. Chatterjee, P.N. |
| Title | Field level study on the buffalo bullock: An excellent draught animal |
| Publisher | International Buffalo Information Centre, Office of The University Library, Kasetsart University, Bangkok (Thailand) |
| Publication Year | 2556 |
| Journal Title | Buffalo Bulletin |
| Journal Vol. | 32 |
| Journal No. | 3 |
| Page no. | 218-230 |
| Keyword | Buffalo bullock,Bubalus bubalis,Draught animal,India |
| ISSN | 1256726 |
| Abstract | In the dry arid region of Birbhum district of West Bengal, excessive water scarcity, soil structure and texture makes cultivation very much restricted. Fodder production is a luxury here. So it is very hard to maintain high producing stocks. The only viable option is the propagation of draught animals of elite germplasm, which are very hardy and disease resistant to a great extent and can thrive on less feed and fodder, resulting inlowered feeding and maintenance cost. Out of the total of livestock, draught animals comprise about 14.77 percent in this district, out of which 75.80 percent are bullocks (cattle) and 24.19 percent are buffalo bullocks. The present study was conducted on 810 buffalo bullocks randomly choosen from farmers' doorsteps covering four blocks of Birbhum district of West Bengal. The region lies at the border of Jharkhand state. The average temperature in the summer is 40 deg C and in winter about 15 deg C, and the average rainfall is about 1430 mm. Buffalo bullocks were characterized by a heart girth of 72.15 +- 0.43 cm, a body weight of 489.6 +- 7.12 kg, a weight carrying capacity for a pair of bullock of 18.2 +- 0.65 kg, a distance travelled per day of 72.0 +- 0.57 km, a speed of travelling of 9.00 +- 0.04 km/h, a working period during agriculture (approx 4 months in a year) of 8.0 +- 0.05 h and at other times of 9.5 +- 0.06 h, a working year of 12 months, an average cost of feeding of Rs. 38.5 +- 0.61 per bullock, a working area ploughed of 1805.976 +-15.483 sq m, and a speed of ploughing of 5.2 +- 0.02 km/h. Buffaloes are very good draft animals with the capability of carrying loads of more than twice those of bullocks. Compared to cattle bullocks, buffalo bullocks can travel longer distances for the whole night around 10-12 h with rest periods of 1-2 h. Buffaloes can work round the year. Although the feed cost is higher than cattle due to more DM intake, buffalo can thrive on more fi brous feed, and their efficiency of energy utilization is far better. However, buffalo bullocks are slow in working efficiency. Buffaloes are observed to be most resistant to diseases, specifically systemic infectious diseases (only 13.39 percent) compared to other animals, namely goat (36.28), sheep (51.37) and cattle (29.17). One of the most interesting observations is that a negligible number of buffaloes under study had systemic infection in terms of febrile reactions or any type of contagious disease, especially FMD in winter. Since the buffaloes in this area are utilized for draught purposes, the majority of the buffalo bullocks reported wounds (16.96 percent) caused by ploughs during working, pain in the leg due to mechanical trauma (15.17 percent) and yoke gall (9.82 percent) due to mechanical injury caused by ploughing and carting. However due to excessive mechanical work, most of the buffaloes reported hypoglycaemia and nutritional (vitamin and mineral) deficiency (15.17 percent) which is more in summer (17.44 percent). Buffalo bullocks should be given due recognition considering their load bearing capacity in those remote areas and power of resistance to common diseases. However in national breed upgrading programmes, artificial insemination and selection have been stressed for animals with better milk yield, giving no scope for propagation of draught animals with excellent germ plasm, imparting extreme risk which may result in extinction of this treasure in near future. This possess the scope for immediate conservation of the germ plasm of draught animals as a source of renewable source of energy and select best draught buffalo bullocks by marker assisted selection. |
