SUCKLING AND ALLOSUCKLING IN RIVER BUFFALO CALVES AND ITS RELATION WITH WEIGHT GAIN

The aim of the present study was to investigate if river buffalo calves (Bubalus bubalis) have equal access to all cows and if milk is thus equally available to all of them. We recorded suckling/allosuckling behaviour and weight gain (WG) of 29 calves (14 males and 15 females), with special consideration to their sex, birth order (B0) and age. Cows ' nursing behaviour and milk production (MP) were also considered. While males tended to be bom earlier than females during this study, this was not the trend in the overall herd records. The cows ' MP was not effected by the calves ' sex. However, bull-calves presented greater mean WG, and mean times spent in individual filial (IF) and in communal nonfilial (CNF) suckling than heifer-calves, which showed greater communal filial (CF) suckling than the former during the first 4 months of life. The WG was associated with IF for bull-calves (r = 0.680 and 0.765, respectively, for the periods from birth to 4th and 8th months of age), and to CNF for heifer-calves (r = 0.628, for the period from birth to 8th month). Results from multiple regression analysis showed independent effects of each suckling category on the calf WG, and such effects were variable according to the calf's sex. BO was negatively correlated to calves ' WG (bull-calves: rs =- 0.873 and- 0.799, from birth t