On-farm husbandry practices and phenotypic characteristics of indigenous Assamese buffaloes of India

Present investigation was conducted on 3310 Assamese buffaloes during the period 2009–13 to study on-farm husbandry practices and phenotypic characteristics. Fifty two breeders were randomly selected from 18 villages of three districts in its breeding tract in Assam, India. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to interview the breeders to generate data which included husbandry practices: housing and sanitation, feeding, breeding and general health management and body measurement: body length, body height, heart girth, paunch girth. The data collected were analyzed by descriptive statistics (percentages). The study revealed that the body length, height, heart girth and paunch girth for young and adult animals, ranged from 70.45±0.82 to 143.62±1.10, 81.34±0.60 to 136.31±1.00, 88.85±0.53 to 186.95±0.95 and 96.04±0.83 to 197.96±0.99 cm respectively. The results showed that the breeders have adopted good husbandry practices under existing farming situations in the area except sanitation and drainage was very poor. Feeding management was mostly extensive type (100%) for 8 hours (100%) and the Colostrum and milk feeding to young calves was practiced by 100% of the farmers. Whereas breeding is concerned, 46.15% breeders maintained 40–60 animals with 1–2 breeding bulls (78.85%) for natural breeding (100%). Buffalo breeders adopted deworming (40.38%) in young as well as adult animals and the vaccination of animals were practiced only 38.46%. The treatment of diseased animals was performed mostly by Veterinary Field Assistants (38.62%) and the Quacks (51.92%). Most common category of diseases was FMD, BQ and Parasites (36.54%) in the area. The animals are good for draft purpose and known for higher fat contents in its milk, hence recommended for its conservation and further development.