Postpartum reproductive performance in buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

In order to characterize and evaluate the postpartum reproductive performance in buffaloes, a research was carried out in a commercial farm, located in the Mara county, Zulia state, Venezuela. The dependent variables were: carving to first service interval (CFSI), calving to conception interval (CCI) and number of services per conception (NSC); the independents variables were: month of calving (MC), month of breeding (MB), parity number (PN), type of milking (TM), milk accumulate yield until 90 postpartum days (MY), calf birth weight (BW), body condition at calving (BC) and body condition at breeding (BCB), thoracic perimeter at calving (TP) and thoracic perimeter at breeding (TPB). In this study 30 buffaloes cows were used and the analysis was done with the statistical analysis system (SAS), through the variance-covariance, minimum least difference and the correlation analysis. The means values rt standard deviations were 42.90 +/- 20.89 (days), 52.44 +/- 34.53 (days) and 1.24 +/- 0.48 (breeding) for CFSI, CCI and NSC, respectively. The MC had significant effects on the CFSI, CCI and NSC; the PN and BC on CFSI; the MB and TPB on NSC. The reproductive performance of the buffaloes cows in the postpartum was excellent, due to their short CCI, helping the low carving interval. Therefore, the bubaline species is a new alternative for milk and meat production in the Zulia state.