Nili Ravi

The estimated population  of Nili-Ravi type of buffaloes in their breeding tract(Ferozepur, Amritsar and Gurudaspur districts of Punjab) is around 0.2 million(vij and Tantia,2005). The three districts have almost equal number of these animals. Ferozepur district, which is otherwise considered as a breeding tract of Nili-Rvi, now have more than 50% buffaloes of Murrah type. Ferozepur and Amritsar districts have only 10.8% and 8.7% of Nili-Ravi type buffaloes respectively. On the contrary, Gurudaspur district not known earlier as major breeding tract of Nili-Ravi, has the highest proportion 14% of Nili-Ravi type buffaloes. The majority of buffaloes in the breeding tract are now found to be non-descript with 72.6% in Amritsar, 68.7% in Gurudaspur and 36.1% in Ferozepur districts.

Buffaloes are major milk producer of the state of Punjab., India. A breed wise livestock census was first time conducted in Punjab in 2007 and population of different genetic groups of buffaloes is given in table.

Breed / Group	Males	Females	Total	% age of total
Murrah	0.93	8.70	9.63	19.25
Nili-Ravi	0.38	3.09	3.47	6.94
Grade (non-descript)	3.31	31.62	34.93	69.98
Others	0.21	1.78	1.99	3.98
Total	4.83	45.19	50.02	—

A perusal of the table reveals that Murrah is predominant buffalo breed (19.25% of total) in the state, while Nili-Ravi breed constitute only 6.94 % of the total buffalo population of Punjab. Graded buffaloes constitute 69.98% of buffalo herd of the state. As per the survey conducted by National Bureau of Animal genetic resources, karnal , most of the Nili-Ravi buffaloes found in Punjab are graded Nili-Ravi buffaloes and only very few are specimens of true breed. Most of the buffaloes having white marking on feet, forehead or walled in one or both eyes are considered Nili-Ravi breed but actually are grade Nili-Ravi buffaloes for which no separate class was envisaged in the livestock census of 2007.

Some of the important characteristics is described as follows: –

Body color	The color is usually black but brown is not uncommon.
Horns	Horns are small, tightly curled but slightly less curled as compared to that of Murrah and circular in cross section.
Marking	White markings are found on hind legs, fore legs and white spots on forehead, muzzle.
Eye	They are usually walled eyes.
Tail	Tail is thick at the base, gradually tapers towards the end and extends below hocks with a white switch.
Body	Nili-Ravi buffaloes are large size and have deep and low set frames.
Head	The head is elongated, bulging at top and is depressed between eyes.
Face
Neck	Neck is long and thin in females while it is thick and powerful in the male.
Ear
Limbs
Skin
Udder	Udder is well shaped,capacious and extends well forward upto naval flap.
Teats	Teats are long, even squarely placed.

Body weight and Growth Rate

The mean values of body weight at birth, 6, 9,12,18,24 months and at first calving reported by various workers are presented below. The average daily gain in body weight was found to increase from birth to 6 months. However, it went on decreasing thereafter up to age at first calving (Sharma and Basu, 1984). In terms of body weight, on an average, Nili-Ravi animals gained 406.1g daily from birth to first calving.

Stage	Sharma & Basu(1984) Mean +- S.E(Kg)	Singh(2003) Mean +- S.E(Kg)
At Birth	29.27+-1.03	29.53+-0.10
3 months	84.33+-3.10	–
6 months	139.50+-4.84	144.07+-0.87
9 months	185.86+-6.65	–
12 months	243.25+-9.12	231.73+-1.52
18 months	–	309.97+-1.76
24 months	395.22+-15.85	380.66+-2.00
At first calving	531.06	516.30+-2.38

Morphological Characteristics

Various values of morphological traits of Nili-Ravi buffaloes like body length, height at withers, heart girth and adult weight reported by various workers are given in the following table.

characteristics	Sex	ICAR(1941b)		Sarwar & Ishaq			Nivsarkar et al.(200)	Taneja(2004)
		Nili	Ravi	Nili		Ravi	Nili-Ravi	Nili-Ravi
Body Length(cm)	Male Female	159.0 149.0	155.0 150.0	157.5 147.3		154.9 149.8	160.0 165.4	– –
Height at withers(c)	Male Female	137.0 136.0	133.0 127.0	132.2 127.0	132.1 127.0		140.0 134.2	140.0         134.0
Hearth Girth(cm)	Male Female	226.0 225.0	224.0 215.0	– –	– –		230.0 207.7	– –
Birth Weight(Kg)	Male Female	– –	– –	– –	– –		35.01 34.5	37.0 34.0
Adult weight(Kg)	Male Female	600.0 450.0	– –	– –	– –		567.0 454.0	543.0 483.0

The studies pertained to Military dairy farms and CIRB farm at Nabha. The field surveys done by NBAGR and GADVASU in the Nili-Ravi belt of Punjab has also been included for estimating the weighted average.

Traits	Weighted Average	Range in Different Reports
Average lactation length(days)	306	262-319
Average lactation milk yield (kg)	1945	1688-2317
Average daily milk yield (kg)
Peak milk yield (kg)	9.4	7.2-11.8
Average Fat%	6.9	6.6-7.2
Average SNF%

. The average lactation yield was 1945 kg in Nili-Ravi buffaloes ranged between 1688 to 2317. Average fat of Nili-Ravi buffalo milk was 6.9% and was less in comparison to various reports on milk of Murrah buffaloes. source:  AK Jain and ML Mehra(Department of Animal Genetics & Breeding GADVASU ,Ludhiana)  

• Male

a) Age at puberty (months)

• Female

a) Age at puberty (months)

b) Age at First Calving (months)

 

AFC (days)	No. of Observations	References
1556+- 18	–	Amble et al. (1958)
1248 +- 35.7	22	Amble et al. (1970)
1224	27	Singh & Singh (1977)
1259.72+-12.66	425	Reddy(1980)
1137.48+- 34.37	–	Singh et al. (1986)
1282.75+- 10.14	423	Naqvi & Shami (1999)
1387+- 22	89	Chawla et al. (2003)
1427.10	–	Munish Kumar(2004)

 

       

 c) Service Period(days)

 

The average first service period reported by various workers are presented in the following table. It varied from 138.37 to 280.96 days.

 

First Service Period	No. of Observations	References
200.78 +- 10.32	340	Reddy (1980)
221.53 +- 4.57	–	Ahmad et al. (1983)
280.96 +- 9.32	617	Naqvi & Shami (1999)
202	–	Nivsarkar et al. (2000)
138.37 +- 9.00	78	Anonymous (2004)

 

       

d) Dry Period (days)

 

The average first dry period reported by various workers is presented in the following table. It varied from 98.20 to 202.26

 

First Dry Period(days)	No. of Observations	References
98.20	–	Chaudhury and Shaw (1965)
202.26 +- 8.00	386	Reddy (1980)
126.50 +- 6.33	–	Singh et al. (1986)
306.39 +- 8.78	592	Naqvi & Shami (1999)
151	–	Nivsarkar (2000)
136.29 +- 26.67	78	Anonymous(2004)

 

e) Calving Interval (months)

 

  The mean first calving interval reported by various workers is presented in the following table. It varied from 443.03 to 579.99 days.

 

First calving interval (days)	No. Of observations	References
461.60 +- 18.76	20	Amble et al. (1958)
444.90 +- 21.31	10	Amble et al. (1970)
508.39 +- 10.10	368	Reddy (1980)
520.50 +- 2.58	–	Singh et al. (1986)
490	–	Nivsarkar et al. (2000)
579.99 +- 12.90	–	Taneja (2004)
443.03 +- 49.31	78	Anonymous (2004)

f) Estrous Cycle Length (days)

g) Estrous Duration(days)

h) Gestation Lengthn (days)