A herd of Jafarabadi and Murrah buffaloes in Brazil

Jafarabadi buffalo, Jaffrabadi buffalo or Gir buffalo[1] is a riverine buffalo that originated in Gujarat, India.[2] It is estimated that there are about 25,000 Jafarabadi buffaloes in the world.[3] It is one of the important buffalo breeds of India and Pakistan.[4] The Jafarabadi buffalo is also the first buffalo breed exported to Brazil,[5] and is also one of the four buffalo breeds raised in Brazil as of 2017, the others being Mediterranean, Murrah and swamp buffalo.[6]

The Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre states that the Jafarabadi buffalo is a hybrid of the African Cape buffalo and the Indian water buffalo, the former originally been brought to British India for slaughtering.[7] The Centre notes this to be one of the major reasons for the buffalo's poor semen quality.[7] The hybrid buffalos were widely present in Jafarabad, and were hence named as Jafarabadi buffalo.[7] Jafarabadi buffaloes have heavy heads with fairly large, thick, flat horns, which drop on the sides of the neck and go on upwards till the ears.[8]

This is one of the Water buffalo breeds that falls prey to Asiatic lions in the Gir Forest National Park.

References

  1. ^ "Jaffarabadi | Buffalopedia". Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  2. ^ Presicce, Giorgio A. (31 March 2017). The Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) - Production and Research. Bentham Science Publishers. ISBN 9781681084176 – via Google Books.
  3. ^ Rife, David Cecil (1959). The water buffalo of India and Pakistan. International Cooperation Administration. p. 31.
  4. ^ Falvey, Lindsay; Hanthalakkhan, Haran (1 January 1999). Smallholder Dairying in the Tropics. ILRI (aka ILCA and ILRAD). ISBN 9780734014320 – via Google Books.
  5. ^ Porter, Valerie; Alderson, Lawrence; Hall, Stephen J. G.; Sponenberg, D. Phillip (9 March 2016). Mason's World Encyclopedia of Livestock Breeds and Breeding, 2 Volume Pack. CABI. ISBN 9781845934668 – via Google Books.
  6. ^ Pylro, Victor; Roesch, Luiz (21 September 2017). The Brazilian Microbiome: Current Status and Perspectives. Springer. ISBN 9783319599977 – via Google Books.
  7. ^ a b c "Indian Science Abstracts". Indian National Scientific Documentation Centre. 2006. p. 156.
  8. ^ Hill, Desmond (1988). Cattle and Buffalo Meat Production in the Tropics. Longman Scientific & Technical. p. 41-44. ISBN 9780582608955.
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