Agri - Kaleidoscope

Agri - Kaleidoscope - Buffalo Genetic Resources of NEH region

The domestic river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) stands next only to cattle in its utility, mainly through its enormous contribution in the form of milk, meat, draught, hide and manure. In South Asia, it has traditionally played a leading role in satisfying the social and economic needs of many rural and tribal communities. Most of the buffaloes of the NEH region resemble swamp type in their external morphological features and are characterized by small to medium body size and low milk yield. These animals are exceptionally suitable for ploughing and puddling the paddy fields and provide draught power for varied agricultural activities under the local production systems. The wild relatives of these buffaloes, known as Bubalusarnee and considered as the founder of domesticated buffaloes, are found in the wild-life reserves of the region. Assam and other north eastern states of India form the land link with East Asian countries which are the home of swamp buffaloes and thus assume significance in unraveling the events related to domestication of this species.
According to 17th Livestock Census (2003), the total buffalo population in NEH region is about 0.84 million, out of which Assam possess more than 80% (0.68 million) followed by Manipur with 9.17% (0.077 million). There is a decreasing trend in the buffalo population of NEH region where five out of eight states showed negative population growth of this species. There was a marginal increase in the buffalo population of Meghalaya and Mizoram, the two states where buffalo husbandry is insignificant/ not popular. However, buffaloes of NEH region especially Manipur buffaloes find an important place in the AnGR of the country, where the only domesticated Indian swamp buffalo population is hitherto reported.

Assamese buffaloes

Habitat and Distribution
Buffaloes found along the Brahmaputra river valley region in Assam represent a unique population persisting and producing in a typical “khunti” system locally developed over the decades. Assamese buffaloes are mainly distributed in the upper, lower and central Brahamputra valley in the districts of Sibsagar, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Kamrup, Marigaon, Sonitpur, Golaghat, Barpeta, Nalbari, Darrang, Goalpara, Cachar, Karimganj, Hailakandi. The population of Assamese buffaloes is estimated to be around 0.73 million. These buffaloes, originally described as swamp type based on their morphological appearance were later confirmed as riverine type based on cytogenetic analysis (Mishra et al., 2008).

Management Practices

The buffaloes are reared traditionally in an extensively managed nomadic system under zero input conditions, locally termed as khunti system. The system is typified as open housing of large herds of buffaloes by pooling together buffaloes of several farmers in temporary camps, mostly in the river banks/islands or near the forest areas which is named as a “Khunti”. These buffaloes are exclusively maintained on grazing in the wetlands of Brahmputra riverbanks and forest areas which provide source of livelihood to the owners.   No housing is provided to the adult animals while young calves are provided thatched housing.

Physical Characteristics

Assamese buffaloes are medium sized animals. The body colour is primarily black with varying shades from dark to grayish black. Hairs are brown tinged with some albino animals (light pink colour) also observed in the herds. The horn pattern is mostly of macrocerous type, being nearly straight and turning at the ends. Spirocerous type is also found, being curved upward to form a circle. Udder is inadequately developed.

Utility

Assamese buffaloes are primarily reared for milk and sale of young male calves which are primarily used for carting and agricultural operations. Milking is done twice a day and the milk yield varies between 0.5 to 6 litres per day. The fat percentage is high averaging about 8.5%. Milk of Assamese buffaloes is popularly known as “Khunti milk”.

Habitat and Distribution

Manipuri buffaloes are distributed in the hilly as well as valley/plain regions of different parts of Manipur state.   Based on the habitat and distribution, Manipuri buffaloes are locally classified into two types viz. hill type locally termed as “Tamgi-eroi” mostly distributed in Chandel, Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong districts while the valley type locally named as “Chingi-eroi” are scattered in Imphal East, Imphal West, Bishnupur and Thoubal districts of the state. The population of Manipuri buffaloes is estimated around 0.77lakh (Livestock Census, 2003). The population trend is indicating a staggering decline of about 45% during last 20 years. Manipuri buffaloes are found to be of pure domesticated swamp type based on their karyotypic profile (Mishra et al., 2009)

Management practices

Animals are reared primarily under zero-input system. No housing is provided in the hilly tract while in the valley, animals are provided thatched house open on all sides except for roof.   In the hilly region, buffaloes are largely let loose in the forests for grazing and stay in the forests even at night. Only during the rice cultivation season (May to July) the buffaloes are kept at home and used for ploughing the rice fields. For rest of the period the animals remain in forests and rarely provided any additional feed or fodder except for occasional salt lick.

Physical Characteristics

The Manipuri buffaloes are generally grey to greyish-black in colour. The horn is sickle shaped (curved) with broad horn base and mostly corrugated. The ear is horizontally placed with hairs on inner and outer margins. The forehead is mostly convex. The buffaloes are medium built and compact with strong legs. Typical white or grayish-white colour is observed between hoofs to knee in majority of animals. The tail switch is generally black. The udder is bowl shaped and poorly developed. The teats are small and cylindrical with round or pointed tips. The hill type animals are comparatively shorter as reflected in their mean body length and height at withers. However, they are stouter than their valley counterparts with significantly higher heart and paunch girth. The Manipuri buffaloes have typical white markings on either side of muzzle and lower jaw. Two white stripes, one in the neck and another slightly above the brisket, represent another typical feature of Manipuri buffaloes. Some animals had one white band in the neck region while in some the lower white band is split type.

Utility   
 
The Manipuri buffaloes in the hilly region are mainly used for draught and meat purpose while the animals in the plains/valley are used primarily for agricultural operations viz. ploughing and pudlling the wet rice fields and carting. Adult male or female buffaloes are mostly used as single animal to plough fields with locally designed ploughs. Ploughing is done mostly during morning hours for 3 to 4 hours and one adult buffalo can plough about 1/4 acre of land.  In the hilly terrain, these buffaloes are also used to pull logs of wood from the mountainous terrain where these buffaloes can walk and climb at ease. The load carrying capacity is about 5 to 6 quintal and one adult male Manipuri buffalo can pull around 40 cu ft log while a female buffalo can pull 10 to 20 cu ft. Both sexes are used for agricultural work. In the hilly region, these buffaloes are also used for meat purpose and the farmers never milk their buffaloes.

These buffaloes are the natives of the Sikkim state. This is a small sized hardy buffalo (250-400 kg) with compact body and thick coat, suited for hilly terrain with black and grey colour (Pathak and Singh, 2001). The buffaloes of this breed are poor milkers.