Abstract:
Proc. Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod. (1978) 12: 239 BODY COMPOSITION OF SWAMP BUFFALO ** A. NATASASMITA* & N.M. TULLOH During 1975-77, 12 buffalo bulls and 13 buffalo cows were killed at Bogor Agricultural University, Indonesia. TheFBW (FastedBodv Weight; viz. no feed or water for 16 h before slaughter) ranged f-&m 190 to 498 kg, whereas the EBW (-ty Body Weight; viz. FBW minus weight of digesta and bladder content) ranged frm 158 to 379 kg. The HCW (Hot Carcass Weight) and weight of the left half defined as SW (Side Tdeight) were recotded. An anatmical dissection (Butterfield and May, 1966) was carried out to obtain J!@V (Side Muscle Weight), FW (Side Fat Weight), EIW (Side Bme Weight) and CIW (Side cbnnectix Tissue Weight). Comparisons between sexes were made by using one-way analyses of covariance utilizing logarithmic values for the variables in linear equations. The results are given in Table 1. The cnly significant difference+etween sexes in grmth coefficients was for M& the b value.for bulls being greater than that for cows. At the sama carcass weight, cows had mre fat but less CIW than bulls. &-analyses ofbulldata frcm literature (Ragab, Damish and mlek, 1966; Charles and Johnson, 1972) showed that their grmth coefficients were similar to those for bulls *&ported here, except for muscle. Their coefficient (0.96) was significantly lower (P<O.O% than ours but their animals covered a higher might range. A comparison of our bull data with that ofCharles, Johnson and Butterfield (1970) showed that, at the same carcass weight, our buffalo' had similar MQ, more CIW and less BW than Bos indicus- cattle. BUTTER FIELD, R.M. and MAY, N.D.S (1966). 'Muscle of the Ox' (University of Queensland Press: Brisbane), CmmES, D.D. and JOHNSON. E.R. (1972). Aust. J. Agric. Res. 23:905. .CmmES, D.D., JOHNSON, E:R. and BUTTERFIELD, R.M. (1970). Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod. 8z9.5. RAGAB, M.T., DARWiSH, M.Y.D'. and Ml&E& A.&A. (1966). mim.mod.~.6:9. * Faculty of Animal Husbandry, Bogor Agric. Univ., Bogor, Indonesia ** School of Agric. & Forestry, Univ. &lboume, Parkville, Vic. 3052. 239.