• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1151-1161
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• 2022

Objective: This study was conducted to estimate the association of age at first calving (AFC) with first lactation traits as well as lifetime performance traits in Murrah buffaloes. Methods: Data on first lactation and life time performance of Murrah buffaloes (n = 679), maintained at Indian Council of Agricultural Research-Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, India during the period 1983 through 2017, were deduced to calculate heritability estimates, genetic and phenotypic correlation of different first lactation and lifetime traits. The univariate animal model was fitted to estimate variance components and heritability separately for each trait, while bivariate animal models were set to estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations between traits under study. Results: The heritability was high for first peak milk yield (FPY, 0.64±0.08), moderate for AFC (0.48±0.07) and breeding efficiency (BE 0.39±0.09). High genetic correlations of first lactation total milk yield (FLTMY) with first lactation standard milk yield (FLSMY, 305 days or less), FPY, and first lactation length (FLL) was seen. Likewise, genetic correlation of AFC was positive with FLTMY, FLL, first dry period (FDP), first service period (FSP), first calving interval (FCI), herd life (HL) and productive days (PD). Significant phenotypic correlation of FLTMY was observed with HL, productive life (PL), PD, total lifetime milk yield (LTMY), standard lifetime milk yield (standard LTMY). Moreover, positive genetic and phenotypic correlation of FPY was observed with HL, PL, PD, total LTMY and standard LTMY. Conclusion: This study reports that AFC had positive genetic correlation with FDP, FSP, FCI, and unproductive days while, negative association of AFC was observed with FLSMY, PL, total LTMY, standard LTMY, and BE. This suggests that reduction of AFC would results in improvement of lifetime performance traits.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.351-363
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• 2023

Visual structural inspections are an inseparable part of post-earthquake damage assessments. With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) establishing a new frontier in visual inspections, there are major computational challenges in processing the collected massive amounts of high-resolution visual data. We propose twin deep learning models that can provide accurate high-resolution structural components and damage segmentation masks efficiently. The traditional approach to cope with high memory computational demands is to either uniformly downsample the raw images at the price of losing fine local details or cropping smaller parts of the images leading to a loss of global contextual information. Therefore, our twin models comprising Trainable Resizing for high-resolution Segmentation Network (TRS-Net) and DmgFormer approaches the global and local semantics from different perspectives. TRS-Net is a compound, high-resolution segmentation architecture equipped with learnable downsampler and upsampler modules to minimize information loss for optimal performance and efficiency. DmgFormer utilizes a transformer backbone and a convolutional decoder head with skip connections on a grid of crops aiming for high precision learning without downsizing. An augmented inference technique is used to boost performance further and reduce the possible loss of context due to grid cropping. Comprehensive experiments have been performed on the 3D physics-based graphics models (PBGMs) synthetic environments in the QuakeCity dataset. The proposed framework is evaluated using several metrics on three segmentation tasks: component type, component damage state, and global damage (crack, rebar, spalling). The models were developed as part of the 2^nd International Competition for Structural Health Monitoring.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2005

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of feeding ammoniated wheat straw treated with HCl on blood biochemical profiles in growing male buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) calves. Twenty-four growing male buffalo calves (one year of age, 88.54${\pm}$3.81 kg average body weight) were divided into three groups in a completely randomized design on the basis of their body weight. Animals in all the three groups were fed on concentrate mixture. In addition, they were offered wheat straw, ammoniated wheat straw (4% urea at 50% moisture level) and HCI treated ammoniated wheat straw (4% urea at 50% moisture level and HCl added to trap 30% of the NH3 evolved) in groups I, II and III, respectively for a period of 180 days, as per Kearl (1982) for body weight gain of 500 g/d. In all diets, concentrate:roughage ratio was fixed at 50:50 and were made isonitrogenous by adjusting CP levels of conc. mixtures. Blood was collected from jugular vein of each buffalo calf at the beginning and subsequently at two months interval of experimental feeding. Due to urea-ammoniation, the CP content of wheat straw increased from 2.90 to 6.96% and addition of HCl along with urea further increased the CP content to 10.09%. In all the three groups, the mean values of plasma glucose (mg %) and serum globulin (g %), showed a decreasing trend, while the mean value of serum TP (g %), serum A:G ratio, serum urea (mg %), serum creatinine (mg %), serum ALP (KA units), SGOT (units/ml.), SGPT (units/ml), serum T$_3$ and T$_4$ (ng/ml) showed an increasing trend with the advancement of feeding period. The cumulative period mean values of serum TP (6.15 to 6.20 g %), serum albumin (3.07 to 3.18, g %), serum globulin (2.98 to 3.09, g %), serum A:G ratio (1.03 to 1.10), serum ALP (23.15 to 23.63, KA units), serum T$_3$ (1.20 to 1.23 ng/ml) and serum T$_4$ (21.33 to 21.88 ng/ml) were comparable among the groups. The cumulative period mean plasma glucose (mg %) in group III (57.28) was similar to groups I (55.31) and II (59.41), however, the cumulative period mean plasma glucose in group II was significantly (p<0.01) higher than group I. The cumulative period mean serum urea (mg %) in group III (47.34) was significantly (p<0.001) higher than group I (38.38) and II (42.24), which were statistically alike. However, the cumulative period mean serum creatinine values (mg %) in groups II (1.43) and III (1.52) were similar and were significantly (p<0.01) higher than group I (1.24). The cumulative period mean SGOT (units/ml) in groups I, II and III was 91.71, 96.04 and 96.64, respectively. Similarly the cumulative period mean SGPT (units/ml) was 19.00, 19.93 and 20.01 in groups I, II and III, respectively. The cumulative period mean values of SGOT (p<0.05) and SGPT (p<0.001) in groups II and III were similar and were significantly higher than group I. The cumulative period mean serum T$_3$ and T$_4$ values in groups I (1.21 and 21.81), II (1.23 and 21.42) and III (1.20 and 21.33) were comparable. From the present study it may be concluded that feeding of AWS treated with and without HCI to growing male buffalo calves for 180 days had no significant adverse effect on blood biochemical profile.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.470-474
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• 1998

Data on the first lactation performance traits of $F_1$, $F_2$ and $F_3$ crosses covering the period from 1972 to 1995 of a total of 803 dairy cows of three genetic grades maintained at Livestock Production Research Farm, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar were analysed. Three genetic grades were 1/2 Friesian + 1/2 Hariana (FH), 1/2 Friesian + 1/4 Brown Swiss and 1/4 Hariana (FBH) and 1/2 Friesian+ 1/4 Jersey + 1/4 Hariana (FJH). Age at first calving increased by 7% and 8% in $F_2$ and $F_3$, respectively, over the $F_1$ in FH. The reduction in age at first calving at $F_2$ and $F_3$ levels by 2-7% over the $F_1$ was observed in FBH and FJH. The lactation milk yield of $F_1$, $F_2$ and $F_3$ crosses was $1,943{\pm}100.3$, $2202{\pm}120.5$ and $1,925{\pm}123.2kg$ in FH; $2,014{\pm}76.7$, $2,264{\pm}91.5$ and $2,096{\pm}123.9kg$ in FBH and $2,005{\pm}87.0$, $2,414{\pm}94.4$ and $2,093{\pm}121.1kg$ in FJH, respectively. The lactation milk yield improved by 12-20% in $F_2$ crosses in various genetic grades. The performance of $F_1$ was, however, maintained in FH $F_3$ crosses, it improved by 4% in FBH and FJH $F_3$ crosses. The lactation lengths and calving intervals were nearly the same for $F_1$, $F_2$ and $F_3$ crosses in FH while lactation lengths and calving intervals were reduced by 3-11% in $F_2$ and $F_3$ crosses in FBH and FJH genetic grades. The milk yield/day of lactation length and milk yield/day of calving interval increased by 16-35% in $F_2$ and 2-14% in $F_3$ over the $F_1$ in various genetic grades. It is recommended that a sufficiently large effective population size of these three genetic grades be maintained by inter se matings and rigorous selection of sires so for developing a genetic base population for new breed development.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.7
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• pp.952-960
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of carbohydrate source and cottonseed meal level in the concentrate on feed intake, nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation and microbial protein synthesis in swamp buffaloes. Four, 4-yr old rumen fistulated swamp buffaloes were randomly assigned to receive four dietary treatments according to a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement in a $4{\times}4$ Latin square design. Factor A was carbohydrate source; cassava chip (CC) and CC+rice bran at a ratio 3:1 (CR3:1), and factor B was level of cottonseed meal (CM); 109 g CP/kg (LCM) and 328 g CP/kg (HCM) in isonitrogenous diets (490 g CP/kg). Buffaloes received urea-treated rice straw ad libitum and supplemented with 5 g concentrate/kg BW. It was found that carbohydrate source did not affect feed intake, nutrient intake, digested nutrients, nutrient digestibility, ammonia nitrogen concentration, fungi and bacterial populations, or microbial protein synthesis (p>0.05). Ruminal pH at 6 h after feeding and the population of protozoa at 4 h after feeding were higher when buffalo were fed with CC than in the CR3:1 treatment (p<0.05). Buffalo fed with HCM had a lower roughage intake, nutrient intake, population of total viable and cellulolytic bacteria and microbial nitrogen supply than the LCM fed group (p<0.05). However, nutrient digestibility, ruminal pH, ammonia concentration, population of protozoa and fungi, and efficiency of microbial protein synthesis were not affected by cottonseed meal levels (p>0.05). Based on this experiment, concentrate with a low level of cottonseed meal could be fed with cassava chips as an energy source in swamp buffalo receiving rice straw.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.58 no.1
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• pp.2.1-2.10
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• 2016

Background: Heat stress adversely affects the physiological and metabolic status, and the productive performance of buffalo. Methods: The present study was conducted to explicate the effect of misting and wallowing cooling strategies during heat stress in lactating Murrah buffalo. The study was conducted for three months (May-July) of which first two months were hot dry and last month was hot humid. Eighteen lactating buffaloes, offered the same basal diet, were blocked by days in milk, milk yield and parity, and then randomly allocated to three treatments: negative control (no cooling), cooling by misting, and cooling by wallowing. Results: The results showed higher (P < 0.05) milk yield in buffaloes of misting and wallowing group compared to control during the experimental period however wallowing was found more (P < 0.05) effective during July (hot humid period). Both the treatments resulted into significant (P < 0.05) reduction in rectal temperature (RT) and respiratory rate (RR) compared to control animals during study period whereas wallowing was found to be effective on pulse rate (PR) only during July. Both treatments were resulted in mitigating the heat stress mediated decrease in packed cell volume (PCV), lymphocytopnoea and neutrophilia whereas decrease in total erythrocyte count (TEC) and monocytes was only mitigated by wallowing. Heat load induced alteration in serum creatinine and sodium concentration was significantly (P < 0.05) ameliorated by misting and wallowing whereas aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase and superoxide dismutase activity, and reactive oxygen species concentration could be normalized neither by misting nor by wallowing. The significant (P < 0.05) increment in serum cortisol and prolactin levels observed in June and July period in control animals was significantly (P < 0.05) prevented by misting and wallowing. Conclusions: It can be concluded that misting and wallowing were equally effective in May and June (hot dry period) whereas wallowing was more effective during hot humid period in preventing a decline in milk production and maintaining physiological, metabolic, endocrine and redox homeostasis.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.605-612
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• 2000

Four young swamp buffalo cows of similar age ranging in weight between 280 to 380 kg and trained to do physical work were used in a study to determine energy and protein requirements for draught using a $4{\times}4$ Latin square designed experiment. The experiment consisted of field trials employing 4 levels of work load, e.g. no work as control, and loads amounting 450 to 500 Newton (N) pulled continuously for 1, 2 and 3 h daily for 14 consecutive days. Cows were fed king grass (Penisetum purpuroides) ad libitum and were subjected to materials balance trials. Body composition was estimated in vivo by the body density method and daily energy expenditure (EE) was calculated from ME minus retained energy (RE). The results show that EE while not working ($EE_{resting}$) was $0.42kgW^{0.75}MJ/d$ and maintenance ME ($ME_m$) was $0.37kgW^{0.75}MJ/d$. ME requirement increased to 1.65 times maintenance for the work of 3 hours. The energy expended for doing exercise ($E_{exercise}$) was 9.56, 20.0 and 25.86 MJ/cow for treatments 1, 2 and 3 II, respectively. Fat retention was absent in all groups of working cows, but protein retention was only negative for cows undertaking 3 h work. The relationship between $E_{exercise}$ (MJ), work load (F, kN), work duration (t, h) and body mass (W, kg) was found to be: $E_{exercise}=(0.003F^{1.43}t^{0.93})/W^{0.09}MJ$. The maintenance requirement for digestible protein was $2.51kgW^{0.75}g/d$, whereas digestible protein for growth ($DP_{growth}$) and for work ($DP_{work}$) followed the equations: $DP_{growth}=[(258+1.25W^{0.75}){\Delta}Wkg/d]g$ and $DP_{work}=[12.59e^{0.95t}]g$, respectively The coefficients a, b and c for the calculation of $E_{exercise}$ components according to the Lawrence equation were found to be 2.56 J/kgW.m, 5.2 J/kg load carried.m and 0.29, respectively, thus efficiencies to convert ME into work were 0, 16.09, 27.3 and 32.44% for control, 1, 2 and 3 h/d work, respectively. ME and DP requirements for a 250 to 400 kg working buffalo cow allowing to growth up to 0.5 kg/d are presented.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.580-586
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• 2000

Data collected between 1981 and 1991 at the Philippine Carabao Center at Central Luzon State University (PCC-CLSU) were used for the comparison of growth, milk yield and draughtability of Murrah-Philippine crossbred and Philippine native buffaloes. Body weights and body measurements were available at 3-month intervals from birth to 36 months of age for a total of 34 $Murrah{\times}Philippine$ native buffalo F1 crossbreds (CBB; 21 cows, 13 bulls) and 32 Philippine native buffaloes (PNB; 16 cows, 16 bulls). Lactation records were available for 14 CBB and 19 PNB cows. Data for draughtability under wet and dry ploughing conditions were available for 4 CBB and 4 PNB steers. The results indicate that crossbreds grow faster (0-9 months of age: cows $442{\pm}19$ vs. $301{\pm}21g/day$, bulls $305{\pm}23$ vs. $296{\pm}21g/day$; 9-36 months of age: cows $227{\pm}10$ vs. $147{\pm}12g/day$, bulls $282{\pm}13$ vs. $138{\pm}12g/day$), mature earlier and produce more milk (1st lactation: $1139{\pm}153$ vs. $450{\pm}112kg$; 2nd lactation: $1115{\pm}132$ vs. $488{\pm}136kg$) than native buffaloes, but have a poorer draughtability (wet ploughing; force as % of body weight $8.8{\pm}0.2$ vs. $12.2{\pm}0.6$; dry ploughing: cut depth $10.98{\pm}0.25$ vs. $11.92{\pm}0.13cm$, velocity $0.50{\pm}0.03$ vs. $0.60{\pm}0.02m/sec$, force as % of body weight $9.0{\pm}0.6$ vs. $11.3{\pm}0.7$). The correlation coefficients between body weight and body measurements at birth and at 3-month intervals indicate that heart girth has a relatively high correlation with body weight, especially in crossbreds. It is concluded that in Philippine smallholder farming systems in which meat and milk production are secondary to draught power, the native buffalo is preferable from the point of view of input needed to maintain the number of animals kept for a required draught force.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.131-138
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• 2020

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) on in vitro rumen fermentation at various dose levels of 0 (T₁), 100 (T₂), 200 (T₃), and 300 (T₄) ppb in a wheat straw-based buffalo diet. The results show that the truly degradable dry matter, truly degradable organic matter, gas production, microbial biomass production and partitioning factor values in the control group (T₁) were higher (p < 0.05) than those of the T₂, T₃, and T₄ groups. The total volatile fatty acids, acetate, propionate, and butyrate values in the control group (T₁) were higher (p < 0.05) than those of the T₂, T₃, and T₄ groups. The partitioning factor value in the control group (T₁) was higher (p < 0.05) than those of the T₂, T₃, and T₄ groups. The partitioning factor values of the T₂ and T₃ groups were higher (p < 0.05) than that of the T₄ group. There was no significant variation in the partitioning factor value between the T₂ and T₃ group. The acetate : propionate (A : P) ratio in the control group (T₁) was lower (p < 0.05) than those of the T₂, T₃, and T₄ groups. The A : P ratio in the T₂ group was lower (p < 0.05) than those of the T₃ and T₄ groups. It was concluded that different levels of AFB₁ contamination in feed significantly affect the in vitro rumen fermentation characteristics. Thus, these findings could help to determine the influences of AFB₁ in a wheat straw-based buffalo diet. Additionally, it is necessary to manage AFB₁ contamination in ruminants.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1424-1436
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• 2013

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of banana flower powder (BAFLOP) supplementation on gas production kinetics and rumen fermentation efficiency in in vitro incubation with different ratios of roughage to concentrate in swamp buffalo and cattle rumen fluid. Two male, rumen fistulated dairy steers and swamp buffaloes were used as rumen fluid donors. The treatments were arranged according to a $2{\times}2{\times}3$ factorial arrangement in a Completely randomized design by using two ratios of roughage to concentrate (R:C; 75:25 and 25:75) and 3 levels of BAFLOP supplementation (0, 2 and 4% of dietary substrate) into two different kinds of rumen fluid (beef cattle and swamp buffalo). Under this investigation, the results revealed that the rumen ecology was affected by R:C ratio. The pH declined as a result of using high concentrate ratio; however, supplementation of BAFLOP could buffer the pH which led to an improvement of ruminal efficiency. BAFLOP supplementation affected acetic acid (C2) when the proportion of concentrate was increased. However, there were no effect on total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) and butyric acid (C4) by BAFLOP supplementation. The microbial community was affected by BAFLOP supplementation, especially the bacterial population. As revealed by real-time PCR, the populations of F. succinogenes and R. albus were reduced by the high concentrate treatments while that of R. flavafaciens were increased. The populations of three dominant cellulolytic bacteria were enhanced by BAFLOP supplementation, especially on high concentrate diet. BAFLOP supplementation did not influence the ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3$-N) concentration, while R:C did. In addition, the in vitro digestibility was improved by either R:C or BAFLOP supplementation. The BAFLOP supplementation showed an effect on gas production kinetics, except for the gas production rate constant for the insoluble fraction (c), while treatments with high concentrate ratio resulted in the highest values. In addition, BAFLOP tended to increase gas production. Based on this study, it could be concluded that R:C had an effect on rumen ecology both in buffalo and cattle rumen fluid and hence, BAFLOP could be used as a rumen buffering agent for enhancing rumen ecology fed on high concentrate diet. It is recommended that level of BAFLOP supplementation should be at 2 to 4% of total dry matter of substrate. However, in vivo trials should be subsequently conducted to investigate the effect of BAFLOP in high concentrate diets on rumen ecology as well as ruminant production.