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 birthweight (BW) in Anatolian Buffalo calves born in the scope of the project of improvementof Anatolian Buffalo in public hand supported by General Directorate of AgriculturalResearch and Policies reared in Amasya province of Turkey. A total of 228 heads calvesborn between 2014 and 2015 were constituted the study material. Sex of calf, maternalage, birth season and location were assessed as affecting factors on BW. The data wereanalyzed using the SPSS statistical package program. Average BW was determined as29.3 0.43 kg. The effects of calf sex, maternal age and birth season on BW weredetected to be statistically significant. The average BW of the male calves (32.2 0.57kg) was found to be higher than those of the female calves (26.0 0.50 kg). BW of calvesborn in autumn had the lowest value. In addition, BW was tented to increase withadvanced maternal age.