Crossbred buffalo hits groundbreaking yield via genetic improvement
IN a statement, DA-PCC GIP National Coordinator Dr. Ester Flores identified the crossbred buffalo as 7UP15001 which yielded 3883.7 kilograms or 3,770.58 liters of milk.
This is considered the highest among the female buffaloes for a period of 299-day lactation in the DA-PCC's herd.
“7UP15001 is the result of our strategic backcrossing initiatives aimed at augmenting the population of dairy buffaloes in the Philippines while enhancing genetic selection to produce superior offspring,” Flores said.
“Animals like 7UP15001 are the result of a long-term effort to produce better buffalo with higher productivity. It didn’t come overnight; it’s a series of actions. We cannot implement it without the sacrifice of the institutional herds using the semen of young bulls, recording the production of females, and doing it again from generation to generation,” she added.
For its peak yield, the 7UP15001 crossbred buffalo reached 20 kg. It also maintained more than 15 kg daily yield for its second trimester of lactation.
Overall, it holds the highest 100 and 200 days-in-milk, equivalent to 16.6 kg. and 15.6 kg. average daily milk production, respectively.
Flores expressed hope that programs like this shall be able to help farmers boost milk production in the country.
“We are producing animals that can adapt to the tropical climate with little input and resource requirements. Our goal is to provide our farmers with the finest dairy carabao genetics through breeding,” she added.
The 7UP15001, meanwhile, is a genetic composition of 87.5 percent Bulgarian Murrah and 12.5 percent swamp buffalo.
Under GIP, a backcrossing approach is conducted to boost milk and meat productivity.
It involves mating purebred riverine buffaloes with native carabao, resulting in bigger and meatier crossbred offspring.