STUDIES ON INCIDENCES AND CAUSES OF BUFFALO CALF MORTALITY IN MALWA REGION OF MADHYA PRADESH

The Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh comprises of two main divisions namely; Indore and Ujjain which cover densely buffalo populated area, Mhow Tehsil is one of them. The data on mortality of buffalo calves was collected by random survey methods from 100 farmers of 13 villages of Mhow Tehsil of MP. The data was classified according to Land and animal holding, educational level, duration of colostrum feeding after birth, age and sex of calf, parity of dam and causes of mortality. The highest mortality in buffalo calves was recorded due to Gastroenteritis (34.68%), followed by worm infestation (24.06%). On the basis of the various causes of mortality observed in the survey work, a package of practice was developed and applied to minimize the calf mortality in buffaloes. It was observed that in the treatment group (10 buffalo calves), where the package of practices was applied, no death was observed during entire period of experiment, where as in control group, out of 10 buffalo calves, 3 calves (two due to enteritis and one due to worm infestation) were died