Effects of Some Environmental Factors on Birth Weight of Anatolian Buffalo Calves

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the effects of some environmental factors on birth weight (BW) in Anatolian Buffalo calves born in the scope of the project of improvement of Anatolian Buffalo in public hand supported by General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies reared in Amasya province of Turkey. A total of 228 heads calves born between 2014 and 2015 were constituted the study material. Sex of calf, maternal age, birth season and location were assessed as affecting factors on BW. The data were analyzed using the SPSS statistical package program. Average BW was determined as 29.3 ± 0.43 kg. The effects of calf sex, maternal age and birth season on BW were detected to be statistically significant. The average BW of the male calves (32.2 ± 0.57 kg) was found to be higher than those of the female calves (26.0 ± 0.50 kg). BW of calves born in autumn had the lowest value. In addition, BW was tented to increase with advanced maternal age.