Characterization of Mehsana Buffaloes in India

Abstract

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.

Survey on Housing and Feeding Practices of Buffaloes Owners in Junagadh and Porbandar District of Gujarat

“…These findings are contrary to Pundir et al, (2000) who found that in about 75 per cent of cases, the farmer and animal houses were separate. There were no significant differences found between the Junagadh and Porbandar district for location of buffalo shed.…”

High-throughput genotype-based population structure analysis of selected buffalo breeds

“…Our F ST -based genetic classification was in agreement with this classification of buffaloes except the separation of Jaffarabadi breed. However, the results failed to explain the hypothesis that Mehsana breed has been developed using Murrah bulls on local Surti buffaloes ( Pundir et al, 2000 ) as both the breeds clustered separately. Earlier study based on microsatellite markers revealed genetic diversity ( F ST ) based clustering between Mehsana with Jaffarabadi and Surti with Pandharpuri ( Kumar et al, 2007 ).…”

“…Genetic diversity studies conducted for buffalo in India have previously relied primarily on the use of microsatellites markers ( Pundir et al, 2000 ; Kumar et al, 2006 ; Tantia et al, 2006 ; Kataria et al, 2009 ; Joshi et al, 2013 ; Joshi et al, 2015 ), while the use of SNP genotype data in Indian cattle has also been previously reported ( Dash et al, 2017 ). Previously, Perez-Pardal et al (2018) have performed the study on 15 buffalo animals each from river and swamp buffalo using cattle SNP array (Illumina BovineHD BeadChip) and they have confirmed that analysis has better suitability for population structure, hybridization, and breed identification of water buffalo populations.…”

Microsatellite-based genetic monitoring to detect cryptic demographic bottleneck in Indian riverine buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

“…The chances for the occurrence of the third type of cryptic bottleneck in Mehsana buffaloes is more, as it has been developed as a high-yielding dairy type animal with high selection pressure. This is supported by the fact that 91% of the farmers in the breeding tract of Mehsana prefer artificial insemination (Pundir et al 2000) which is far higher than that for most other breeds. The use of semen from fewer superior bulls could have skewed the sex ratio, and consequently, the effective size of the male population, thereby leading to cryptic genetic bottleneck.…”