Introduction to buffalo and Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes

Awadhesh Kishore and Rakhi Sharma*

Sarvoday Mahavidyalaya, Chaumuhan-281406, Mathura INDIA
*Institute for Development of Technology for Rural Advancement, Mathura-281004 INDIA

Abstract:

Asia is the native home of the water buffalo, with 95% of the world population. About half of the total buffaloes are present in India. The water buffalo or domestic Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a large bovine animal. In India the buffalo is reared for milk, meat and draught purposes. The buffalo has a special significance in the Indian dairy industry.

Keywords:

Asia, Asian water buffalo, Bubalus bubalis, Buffalo, CIRB, Dairy industry, Draught, Hisar, India, Meat, Milk, Research, Scholarly, Water buffalo

Taxonomy of buffalo:

The swamp buffalo has 48 chromosomes; the river buffalo has 50 chromosomes.
Kingdom-Animalia
Phylum-Chordata
Class-Mammalia
Order-Cetartiodactyla
Family-Bovidae

Buffalo breeds:

Probably milk production formed the basis of selection and breeding which resulted in the evolution of farmers' dairy breeds of riverine buffalo like Murrah, Kundi, Nili Ravi, Jaffarabadi, Mehsana, Surti etc. In India most popular buffalo breeds are Murrah, Bhadavari, Jaffarabadi, Mehsana, Nili-Ravi and Surti. Other major buffalo breeds include Pandarpuri, Toda, South Kanara, South Kanara, Dharwari/Gowli, Dharawari and Godavari etc.

Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes:

Progeny Testing Bull Farm, Hisar of State Government, Haryana was transferred to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) in the year 1985, and was established as Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes (CIRB) at Hisar.

The Mandate:

The mandates of CIRB are as follows:
1) To promote and undertake research on all aspects of buffalo production.
2) To establish nuclus breeding herds of important buffalo breeds in their native tracts.
3) To co-ordinate research work carried out by other institutions in the country and to collaborate with international agencies in the area of buffalo research and development
4) To act as a repository on all aspects of buffalo production and development.
5) To undertake extension activities for technology transfer.

Campus:

The main campus of the Institute is located at Hisar on the National Highway No. 10. Hisar is located between latitude 29.100N and longitude 75.460E. It is about 170 KM north-east of New Delhi and about 3 KM from Hisar bus stand on Sirsa Road and about 5 KM from Hisar Railway station. Nearest airport is Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi for International flights and Palam Airport, New Delhi for domestic flights.

The CIRB at the main campus has 1009 acres of land. only 25% of the available land is arable. About 100 acres of salt affected land is being reclaimed.

CIRB has a sub-campus located at Bir Dosanjh which is about 8 KM from Nabha town of Patiala District of Punjab on National Highway No. 1. The sub-campus is about 250 KM from New Delhi. The nearest airport is about at Chandigarh. CIRB sub-campus has old Laboratory building housing library, semen processing, nutrition and genetics lab. It has bull sheds, well-designed animal sheds, calving pen, feed stores and fodder processing unit.

Organization:

Director is the principal executive head of the institute. He is chairman of the Institute Management Committee and the staff research council. Research Advisory Committee is to suggest research programmes based on national and global context for guiding research in the thrust areas.

Extension activities:

Research and scientific achievements alone are not adequate to estimate the success of animal science research system. In fact, different components of transfer of technology systems result in the flow of technology to end users. CIRB launched its transfer of technology programme and activities to demonstrate the latest technical advances to the farmers. Various extension activities being organized in CIRB include infertility camps, de-worming camps, Judging and Milk completion, Treatment of animals under TOT, Participation in Kisan Melas, Farmer's Fair and Demonstration of Balanced Feeding.

Publication:

CIRB is contributing in including newer knowledge. Major publications include annual reports, books, research papers, abstract papers, and popular articles.

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Meet the author

Dr Awadhesh Kishore
Ph.D.
Area of writing: Numerous
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