The Nagpuri is a

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...

originating in

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, India. It stands better amongst the breeds of buffaloes which combine the milk and drought qualities in a better proportion in adverse

climatic Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorolog ...

conditions. It is a River type buffalo. It is a central Indian breed.Banerjee, G.C, Animal Husbandry (8th edition) The breed has many synonyms, such as "Berari", "Gaorani", "Puranthadi", "Varhadi", "Gaolavi", "Arvi", "Gaolaogan", "Gangauri", "Shahi" and "Chanda".

Origin

As the name applies Nagpuri buffalo is a versatile breed of the Vidarbha region of

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. The animals of this breed are very well adapted to the harsh-semi-arid conditions of Vidarbha region.

Physiological and physical characteristics

Coat color is black. The breed is

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

with

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

patches on face, legs and tail tips. However, "Puranthadi" strain, one of the productive stain of nagpuri buffalo, is slightly brown in color. The horns are long, flat and curved, bending backward on each side of the neck nearly up to the shoulders with tips pointed mostly in upward direction. Average height of nagpuri buffalo is 145 cm for male and 135 cm for female and heart girth is 210 and 205 cm for male and female respectively.

Rearing and production

The animals are maintained in semi-intensive management system.A Report on Nagpuri Buffalo by Kazi Abdus Sobur Male body weight average 525 kg where female attains about 425 kg.Banerjee, G.C, Animal Husbandry Buffaloes and heifers in this area are reared mainly for fat production. Average milk yield per lactation is 1039 kg ranging 760–1500 kg with average milk fat of 8.25% ranging 7.0-8.8%.Lactational performance of Shahi strain of Nagpuri buffalo Nagpuri can withstand extreme climatic conditions as high as 47 °C even in respect of milk production and fertility. Male animal is used for draught purposes but it works slower than

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

Cattle).

References

{{Water buffalo breeds Water buffalo breeds originating in India