Nutritional aspects of buffalo production

Nutrition of animals and milk production is closely related. Every aspect of animal production performance is directly affected by the feeding and nutrition of the animal. India has witnessed an average annual growth rate of milk production of 4.51% during the 2007-2012, reaching 127.9 million tonnes in 2011-12, taking per capita milk availability for Indian citizens to the WHO recommended standard of 290 grams per head per day. This is mainly due to significant numbers of the buffalo population. Additional contribution of the buffaloes as the top exported agricultural commodity i.e. carabeef sourced from spent and unwanted buffaloes, truly makes this species the ‘Black Gold’ of the country. India have diverse germplasm of buffaloes some of them are non-descript and low producing. Furthermore, milk productivity is marred by suboptimal reproductive efficiency and lack of quality feed resources. Better utilization of feeds and fodders hold the promise for overall improvement in buffalo productivity. This needs to be addressed. Therefore, in this review the nutritional management of lactating and non-lactating buffalo is thoroughly discussed.