SummaryMehsana buffalo is distributed in Mehsana, Banaskantha and Sabarkantha districts of North Gujarat in India. The animals are reared for milk production. The management practices in the breeding tract were studied. The physical, production and reproductive characters were recorded. The Dudhsagar Research and Development Association located in Mehsana district has undertaken breed improvement programmes in farmers'herds by running field progeny testing and providing other animal husbandry services like artificial insemination, health coverage, etc. This has resultedin the improvement in the reproductive performance as is evident from the decreasein the average first service period by 74 days and the average first calving interval by 103 days from 1989 to 1997. Microsatellite DNA marker analysis was carried out on 25 Mehsana buffalo DNA samples using seven markers for genetic characterization of the breed. Number of alleles at different loci ranged from four to seven and heterozygosity ranged from 0.40 to 0.92.

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