STUDY ON REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF BANGLADESHI BUFFALO UNDER INTENSIVE FARMING SYSTEM

The study was designed to observe the external and internal estrus symptoms which are related to reproductive performance of Bangladeshi buffalo at Lal Teer Livestock Breeding and Research Farm, Bhaluka, Mymensingh, Bangladesh during January 2017 to June 2018. A total of 10 cyclic buffaloes (out of 35) were included in this study according to their reproductive history. Heat detection was based on visual observations, performed three times a day (morning 06.00, mid-day 12.00 and afternoon 15.00), involving 20 minutes of watching reports from the high skilled technical persons. In addition, the calving buffalo was followed by their estrus cycle, eg., 1^st cycle at the day of 19-23, 2^nd cycle at the day of 40-44 and 3^rd cycle at the day of 61-65 after parturition. When an animal was found with different external and internal symptoms of heat, and standing to be mounted was confirmed, that animal was considered to be in estrus. All of the symptoms were captured with Sony Handycam and stored on hard drives for further use. The cyclic cows were artificially inseminated within 12 hours on incidence of confirmed estrus. The pregnancies were detected by rectal palpation and transrectal ultrasonography after 60 days of artificial insemination. The findings of the study suggest that, the reproductive performance is closely related with the conception and pregnancy rate of buffalo.