A Note on Traditional Breeding Practices among Maldharis of Banni Region of Kutch District of Gujarat

The Banni area was known as largest grassland of the Asia spreads over about 3000 sq.km. Free grazing based animal husbandry system of Kachchh is characterized by its source of fodder. In this system part of fodder supply comes large from pasture land in the form of free grazing. These pasture land is characterized by its very low to negligible slopes. Jat and Mutvas are main communities engaged with this type livelihood system. The maldhari (wealth/animal owners), as the pastoralists call themselves, have over the several centuries developed and conserved one of the best blood lines for the buffalo, in this ecosystem. Maldharis keep 10 to 90 banni buffaloes. Mostly natural breeding practice is followed in Banni region of Kutch. The Maldharies practice selective breeding. Male buffaloes are selected for breeding purposes based on their true breed characteristics, dam’s milk production and body confirmation from their own vathan. Breeding males are exchanged between nearby villages after 3 – 4 years regularly, to avoid inbreeding. Many pastoral and agro-pastoral communities keep detailed mental records of their animals’ ancestry, reportedly up to 3rd to 4th generation back.

Introduction:-

Gujarat state is blessed with best germplasm of buffalo in the world. The breeds, Mehsana, Jaffarabadi, Surti and the emerging “Banni Buffalo” have been known for higher productivity, disease resistance, playing a specific role in maintaining vibrant, stable ecosystem, adapted to vagaries of environment and providing rural livelihood security in the state.

Banni buffalo, the unique and valuable germplasm of Kutch maintained under typical and locally adapted extensive production system and the only source of livelihood for maldharis (Animal breeders) in Banni region of Kutch.

Banni is home to 45 small hamlets of Muslim nomadic pastoralists and Meghwal Hindus. The Banni area, once upon a time, was known as largest grassland of the Asia, spreads over about 3000 sq.km area. The soils of Banni are sandy to silt loam with lenses of clay. On account of high silt and clay content, the overall permeability of the soil is low and as a result the vertical and lateral movement of surface and sub is considerably inhibited causes surface water logging and flooding during rainy season. Which restrict the cultivation of land and since time immemorial the land is kept for grazing purpose only. Large number of grass varieties, from sweet grasses to salt tolerance grasses and short to tall grass, grow in the Banni area after the rainy season. Such rich and diverse grassland supports buffalo rearing occupation in area.

Free grazing based animal husbandry system of Kachchh is characterized by its source of fodder. In this system part of fodder supply comes large from pasture land in the form of free grazing. These pasture land is characterized by its very low to negligible slopes. This system is dominant in the Banni area and sporadically in eastern and western part of Kachchh. Rabari, Jat and Mutvas are main communities engaged with this type livelihood system.

The maldhari (wealth/animal owners), as the pastoralists call themselves, have over the several centuries developed and conserved one of the best blood lines for the buffalo, in this ecosystem. The genetic makeup of these unique animal gives it the ability to free graze in the night to avoid the harsh high temperatures of the day; and handle the stress of temperature difference and little fodder in droughts and yet when fed well can produce twice the milk than any other indigenous animal in the country! This made the Banni buffalo gain renown in white revolution, and sold all over west India. Today, it commands amongst the highest price in the country. Well bred animals are sold for 50-70,000/- rupees. National Bureau of Animal Genetic Resources (NBAGR), Karnal and Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University (SDAU) genotyping work confirms that the Banni Buffalo is a distinct breed. It will soon be recognized as the 11th distinct buffalo breed in India, paving the way for the Banni pastoralists to further realize benefits for their conservation efforts.

A pilot Survey was conducted by Sahjeevan AHKC Unit to know the general management practices of Banni Maldhari to rearing the Banni Buffalo. We have more focus on breeding practices of Banni buffalo in its native tract. In breeding practice we have cover the care and Management of Buffalo calves for rearing, health status of breeding bulls, selection criteria of bull for breeding as well as market facilities. For that we have develop one questionnaire form to know the current situation of breeding practices of Banni Maldhari. Questionnaire include feeding and care of newly born calf, criteria for selecting bull, care and management of bull in breeding season, selling of male and female animal in a year, Selling of milk and other health related matter.

Methodology:-

We prepare one survey form to know the husbandry practices of Banni buffalo in this area. We include detail of care and management, health status, breeding practices and marketing facilities in questionnaire form. Survey done with participatory methods through informal interviews, talks with local experts and group discussions. First we fill up the 2-3 form in villages/Vandh of Banni and then give final touch to the questionnaire form with necessary alteration. It is important to record the local terminology used to describe the breeds and to understand local breeding goals.

1. Form fill up by discussion with maldharies

2. Field visit to know other details

Finding / Result:-

Buffalo type in this system is Sindhi which are locally known as Banni (Due to name of Area) or Kundi (Due to its coiling horn shape). This buffalo is good milk yielder if fed well and hence has high demand in dairying activity of the south Gujarat and Mumbai. As per the maldharis survey well maintained animals fetches price Higher Prices is Between Rs. 50,000 to 75,000. and Average shelling Price is Rs. 25000 to 45000 The average milk yield of this animal is ranging from 12 to 18 liters per day.

Origin: -

After survey we have came to know that Banni buffalo is one of the most popular breed of Gujarat. Basically this buffaloes are coming from Sindh area (Kadhan and Luhari) of Pakistan before partition of India-Pakistan. After that these buffaloes are adapted to local condition of Kutch (repeated droughts, low availability of water, high ambient temperatures and low humidity etc.). Now they have identify as Banni which does not having any similarity with Murrah or any other Indian buffaloes.

Characteristics:-

Physical:-

3.Banni buffalo is mostly black (95%) in colour as well as brown (5%). They have got elongated and straight wide forehead with no slop towards horn base. Horns are tightly coiled vertically with single to double coiling. The neck is thin & medium in the female and thick and heavy in the male. Forelegs are short and heavy and hind legs are medium and equally placed. The udder is well developed and bowel to round shaped. Teats are conical with round/pointed tips. Chest is deep with narrow brisket and shoulders are well blend with body. The tail is medium, almost touching the hock joint or little big. Banni buffalo is thinner at anteriorly while broader and well built posterior and well built body barrel.

Morphological (cm) and Performance Traits

	Sr.No			Traits			Mean + S.E.
	1		Body length				153.70 + 0.37
	2		Heart girth				205.53 + 0.58
	3		Height at Withers				136.68 + 0.17
	4		Face length				53.66 + 0.16
Key Productivity							Breed
parameters
				Banni	Jafarabadi		Mehsani		Surti		Murrah
Age at First Calving (Years)				3-3.5	4 - 4.5		3.5–4		3.5–4		3.5-4
Calving Interval (months)				12-14	18-24		15-16		15-18		16
Lactation Yield (lts)				2500-2700	2000-2400		1600-1800	1500-1800			1700-2200
Lactation Length (days)				290-295	302-310		352		350		300
	Fat (%)			7-8	9-10		7 – 7.5		7 – 7.5		6.9
Service Period (days)				60-70	180		140-160		170		160-180
Dry Period				71.75 + 1.42

4.Cytogenetic characterization:-

Number of Chromosomes (2n) = 50 (48 XX/48 XY), Autosomes pairs = 24 Sex chromosome pairs = 1 (Female XX or Male XY).

Morphology: Submetacentric (autosomes) first 5 pairs and next 19 pairs acrocentric (autosomes), X chromosome acrocentric (largest) and Y chromosome smallest acrocentric.

Management: -

Banni buffaloes are kept as loose in Vathan or Personal Vada of Maldharies in villages of Banni area. Maldharis never tied their animals. The animals are brought up on a free grazing model where they leave, along with the other animals of the village in the evening and only return in the morning. They feed on the rich diversity of grasses and shrubs in the open grasslands of banni and can cover up to 10-12 km in a single night. In Monsoon when grasses are in ample amount then they can cover only 3-4 km, in winter animals can cover 5-6 km and in summer season they might have to cover about 10-12 km to gain their feed requirement. During milking they are given certain amount of concentrate feed additionally. In day time animals stay and rest near owner houses or under trees in the villages. In noon they also mud in the water area near water source to maintain body temperature.

Animals are fed concentrate in early morning during milking the animals. This is one of the reasons for that animal came back to villages in early morning conditionally to get concentrate feeding. A mature bull and heifer are also went for grazing

Table: - 1 Fodder source in Banni area

Fodder Source		Good Rainfall Year			Bad Rainfall Year
		M	W	S	M	W	S
Green grass from Wasteland
Dry grass from Wasteland
Rainfed produce direct
Green fodder purchased
Short distance migration
Long distance migration
Putting animal in cattle camp

Above table explains the fodder source of this system. Free grazing starts after good rainfall year in the area and up to the summer it is continuing. Now a day the shortage of grasses takes place

5.in early summer even in good rainfall year. In such cases the maldhari migrates in near by irrigated belts where they gets fodder against dung and\or providing labour from his family to the farm. The duration of migration is dependent on next year rainfall. If the next rain is good then he returns to his native village along with animals but the next rain is failed he will continue with this arrangement.

During Drought condition they are migrating in near by area of Kutch (Internal) where the grasses are available for grazing. If Grasses are not available in Kutch district then they do external migration towards the southern Gujarat and even out of Gujarat also.

Care & Management of buffalo calves: -

Maldharis are taking care of newly born buffalo calves. As per discussion with maldharis they said that they provide milk to male calf up to 6 month to 1 year @ 3-6 liter/Day as per capacity and interest of Maldharis (One-Two Teat). When a calf is born its rumen will not be developed and it will take a few months until rumen is fully developed and start functioning. Until then the calf is similar to a simple-stomached animal nutritionally. They also provide milk to female calf up to 2 month to 6 month @ 3-6 lit/day (one – two teat). After 3-4 month they are providing certain amount of palatable roughage to the calves. After that they are going to grazing with herd. They also offer concentrate from 4 month as per consumption capacity of calves from 0.5 to 1 Kg/day. Some of the maldharis also give ghee to the calves.

Breeding Practices:

Breeder: - “A person, who practices the vocation of mating carefully, selected specimens of the same breed to reproduce specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics”.

After study we have to know that maldharis keep 10 to 90 banni buffaloes. For breeding of their herd (Buffaloes) they keep one good breeding bull within the herd. Mostly natural breeding practice is followed in Banni region of Kutch. So in banni all maldharis play an important role as a breeder himself.

In this area people do not knowing the sign of estrus (Heat) in animals because they do not need to notice due to natural breeding. Also animals went to grazing in grassland of banni during early morning and in night hours, so this is very difficult to know that when and where animal come in heat. In Artificial Insemination (AI) technique owner must have knowledge of estrus sign and proper time of insemination. If timed AI is not occur than Maldhari lost one month income because animal remain unproductive 1 month extra. AI technique is most useful and effective tools for quick breed improvement programme. In AI technique qualified person is required and also need to take certain hygienically steps. All the requirement of this technique is very difficult to maintain in this region. The preliminary studies on the key productivity parameters reveal that the Banni buffalo is much above the other buffalo breeds of India, especially in view of the harsh, dry environmental conditions in which they live! In addition to that Banni buffalo is yet not recognized hence Semen for AI is also not available of Banni Buffalo. So if AI practiced in such condition than cross breeding take place will be deteriorating the genetic purity of Banni Buffalo.

So in this area Natural breeding is much suitable in this extensive animal husbandry system. One saying is very popular in animal husbandry that “Bull is half of the Herd”. Hence in breeding programme selection of bull is one of the major task for maintaining purity and improvement of any breed.

The Maldharies practice selective breeding. Male buffaloes are selected for breeding purposes based on their true breed characteristics, dam’s milk production and body confirmation from their own vathan. Breeding males are exchanged between nearby villages after 3 – 4 years regularly, to avoid inbreeding. Many pastoral and agro-pastoral communities keep detailed mental records of their animals’ ancestry, reportedly up to 3rd to 4th generation back.

Some of the criteria they keep in mind while selecting a bull are:

3. the health and strength of the animal

4. The horns are equal in shape and size

5. information on the pedigree of the animal,

6. weather its ancestors have ever fallen ill or died due to disease,

7. Beauty of the Bull is well defined amongst the breeders! And play an equally important role in the selection of an animal. Some pastoralists have a fetish for a white mark, often on the forehead or around the hoof,

8. They also consider the behavioral aspects of the animal such as complacency, good mothering instincts, ability to be part of a large herd (team work!), etc.

9. Ability to walk long distances.

Note: - some of the maldharis doesn’t use bull of their own Vathan but they select the bull from near by area for breeding their animals. They also noticed that if they use homegrown bull, their progeny may be detoriated (Probably due to inbreeding).

7.Health status & Awareness:-

Due to loose housing system in Vathan, animals remain in one common place. So there are more chances of spreading infectious diseases in animals e.g. outbreak of Sheep Pox is recently occur in Banni as well as in Nakhatrana, Mundra and Abdasa talukas of Kutch. Mastitis is also one the major infectious disease appears in large scale. Maldhari does not take hygienic care of their animals or not aware regarding importance of hygienic condition. Even ectoparasitic problem is also in considerable amount in such area due to lack of hygienic condition in Vathan/Vada. Respiratory diseases are also appearing may be due to dust and smoke of Charcoal business. All the maldharis knowing commonly occurring diseases and they also have certain traditional knowledge for treating such diseases. Veterinary facilities are not so good because Banni is a remote area and distances between villages are far away. A few interested maldharis are aware regarding vaccination for important infectious diseases of the

region (e.g. FMD, HS) and they vaccinated their animals regularly by their own extra efforts.

They do not have knowledge regarding brucellosis. They are not aware that due to such diseases abortion can take place in pregnant animal. They just know that abortion can occur only due to polluted water (detergent mixed water), High temperature or due to certain injuries

(falling in ground, fight with other animals etc.).

So in this area, awareness programme on such area is necessary to save this valuable

germ plasm of Gujarat.

Table-2:- List of maldharis included in Survet and their herd size.

				Animal
Sr.No	Maldhari Names	Village	Male	Fem	Calf	Total
1	Vaydhana Amad Hingorja	Nani Daddhar	1	9	2	12
2	Bhachaya Majana Node	Moti Daddhar	1	9	5	15
3	Alim Gulmamad	Moti Daddhar	1	7	8	16
4	Amad Juma	Vadhura	1	18	21	40
5	Bhachubha Ismail Sumara	Dedhiya	1	15	14	30
6	Maherali Bhachaya Halepotra	Maherali Vandh	2	66	22	90
7	Haji Adu Haji Abdulla Mutava	Gorevali	2	38	10	50
8	Mamdali Nurbhai Mutva	Mithadi	1	12	12	25
9	Malukbhai Hasam Mutva	Nani Mithadi	1	12	3	16
10	Bhimkhan haji Majid Mutva	Adyang	1	17	7	2

11	Haji Mamad Sumara	Sargu road	1	13	6	20
12	Haji Musa Haji Abbas Node	Ludiya	2	25	23	50
13	Alana Mukim Rayshipotra	Hodko	1	10	2	13
14	Hasam Idrish Halepotra	Hodko	2	40	18	60
15	Sau Suleman	Vadhura	1	7	2	10

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We thank Sandeepbhai Virmani, Executive officer and Miss Krupa Dholakiya, Programme Executive of Sahjeevan, Bhuj, for the guidance and facilities provided.

References:-

A textbook of Animal Husbandry (Eighth Edition) by G.C.Banerjee.

Animal Husbandry action plan for Kachchh district (2004), Prepared by Arid Communities and Technologies (ACT) submitted to IRMA, Anand. (Report on Supplementary work)

http://HYPERLINK "http://www.gtz.de/"www.gtz.de, Issues paper, indigenous knowledge of animal breeding and breeds

Ilse Köhler-Rollefson (2000), Management of Animal Genetic Diversity at Community Level Lokhit Pashu-Palak Sansthan and Ilse Köhler-Rollefson (2005), Documenting Animal Breeds and

Breeding from a Community Perspective, Sadri, Rajasthan, India

Policy paper (2001), Conservation and Management of Genetic Resources of Livestock, National Academy of Agriculture Science, Dec-2001.

A study report on dairy animal productivity of Power Patti cluster-Nakhatrana (2007) “Sahjeevan” Animal Husbandry Knowledge Center (AHKC) Local documentation prepared by Asif Khan.

Technical bulletin/Folder No. 07/04. Banni buffalo – Incredible germplasm of Kachchh. S.D.A.U, Sardarkrushinagar.