Livestock Studies 2020, Vol 60, Num, 2     (Pages: 54-61)

The effect of some environmental factors on lactation length, milk yield and calving intervals of Anatolian Buffaloes in Bartın province of Turkey

Kürşat Alkoyak 1 ,Sezer Öz 1

1 Republic of Turkey Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies, Department of Livestock and Aquaculture Research Ankara, Turkey DOI : 10.46897/livestockstudies.846415 - This study aims to determine the environmental factors effected to lactation length (LL), lactation milk yield (LMY), calving intervals (CI) of Anatolian buffaloes in Bartın. In this study, 1511 milk yield data belonging to 762 Anatolian buffaloes and 957 CI data belonging to 543 Anatolian buffaloes which has been reared in different environmental conditions between 2015-2019 under the scope of the Anatolian Buffalo Breeding Project being conducted in Bartın province. The least squares method was used for determining the effect of environmental factors, and Tukey multiple comparison tests were used for multiple comparison. Mean and standard deviations relevant to the LL, LMY, and CI were detected as 260.26 ± 1.33 days, 1035.5 ± 8.21 kg, and 426.35 ± 2.91 days, respectively. County, calving year, and season, age, and lactation number`s effects on those parameters were investigated. The effect of calving year (P<0.001) county and season (P<0.01) on LL; county, calving year (P<0.001) and calving age (P<0.05) on LMY; lactation number (P<0.001) and calving age (P<0.01) and season (P<0.05) on CI were found statistically significant. Meanwhile, a highly significant positive phenotypic correlation was calculated between LMY and LL (r = 0.66, P <0.001). There are no adequate studies related to the environmental factors influencing lactation length, lactation milk yield, calving intervals of Anatolian buffaloes. Significant environmental factors detected in this study should be considered in selection programs. Keywords : Anatolian buffalo Environmental factors Lactation length Milk yield Calving interval