impacts of climate change on milk production of murrah buffaloes in kaski, nepal

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This project aims to define the relationship between Temperature-Humidity Index (THI) with the milk production from Murrah Buffaloes taking in account of 10 years' data.

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  • RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN 2012

    www.PosterPresentations.com

    Abstract

    Introduction

    1B.V.Sc.& A.H., Institute of Agriculture and Animal Science, Rampur Campus, Chitwan, Nepal2Assistant Professor, Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan,3Professor, Department of Animal Breeding and Bio-technology, IAAS, Rampur Campus

    Impacts of Climate Change on Milk Production of Murrah Buffaloes in Kaski, NepalAnil Sigdel. Nirajan Bhattarai, AND 3Mana Raj Kolachhapati

    Methodology

    Retrospective review over 10 yearsdata (2002-2012) A.D. of milkproduction and breeding records ofMurrah buffaloes maintained atLivestock Development FarmPokhara.

    Sample size of 350 murrahbuffaloes sired by 15 bulls wereutilized for the study.

    Variation in milk production anddecrease in breeding efficiency wereanalyzed and correlated with theTemperature-Humidity Index (THI)using SPSS ver. 16.

    Seasonal effect on lactation lengthof murrah buffaloes was estimatedusing Least square procedure ofHarvey (1990).

    Statistically significant meanscompared by using DMRT.

    Climate change is likely to affect milkproduction because of the sensitivity oflactating murrah buffaloes to excessivetemperature and humidity. For thisreason, a study was carried out atLivestock Development Farm, Pokhara,Kaski, from February 2014 to June 2014,with the objective to analyze the variationin milk production of Murrah buffaloeswith respect to excessive temperature andhumidity (THI). These variations in milkproduction were analyzed and correlatedwith the climatic data records of ten years(2002-2012A.D.) of Livestock DevelopmentFarm. Analysis of variation in milkproduction data with respect toTemperature-Humidity Index (THI) wasdone using SPSS computer softwarepackage ver. 16. The calculated correlationbetween milk yield and THI indicated thatmilk yield was negatively correlated withTHI (r = -0.80, P < 0.01). The negative slopeof regression line indicates that milkproduction decreases as THI increasesshowing that murrah buffaloes of the farmwere sensitive to excessive temperatureand humidity. Heat stress during summeris the most prominent impacts of climatechange in lactating murrah buffaloes ofthe farm. Milk production and conceptionrate declines were found higher insummer season. Additionally, lactationperiod of buffaloes were also foundshorter during summer resulting summerthe most critical season for milkproduction. Change is grassland speciesand emergence of pasture weed is anothervisible impact of climate change on thefarm. Thus, the impacts of climate changeon milk production of murrah buffaloesare real and required immediate attentionif they are to be minimized and managedproperly to attain higher milk production.

    Key words: climate change, heat stress,murrah buffaloes, conception

    Warming of climate system on earth isunanimously accepted reality(IPCC,2007).

    Buffalo is the major livestockcommodity in Nepal that contributesabout 70% of total milk and 59% oftotal meat produced in the country andranks at first among all species(CBS,2012).

    Reduction in milk yield and decrease inbreeding efficiency are the greatestclimatic challenges faced by dairy cattlefarmers (West,2003).

    The present study has been made todefine the relationship betweenTemperature-Humidity Index (THI) withmilk yield and breeding efficiency ofmurrah buffaloes.

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    5

    10

    15

    20

    25

    Jan

    (6

    8)

    Feb

    (7

    2)

    Mar

    .(7

    7)

    Ap

    r.(8

    2)

    May

    (84

    )

    Jun

    e (8

    5)

    July

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    Au

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    Sep

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    Oct

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    % Heat Express

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    Factors No.

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    Lactation

    Length

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    SEM)

    (days)

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