Effect of Parity and Calving Month on Milk Production and Quality of Greek Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

Forty lactating Greek buffalo cows were used in an experiment to determine effects of parity and calf birth month onproductivity and milk composition. Buffalo cows gave birth on months June and August 2009, and were kept undersemi closed system of management. From June to November, during the day the buffalo cows were allowed to grazeon the surroundings from 10:00 h and flocked back at 16:00 h. In the experiment, which started on week 6postpartum and lasted 24 weeks, buffalo cows were fed alfalfa hay, corn silage, wheat straw and concentrate, andwere allocated, relative to parity, into treatments GBP1 (21 buffalo cows with parity 1, 2, and 3) and GBP2 (19buffalo cows with parity 4, 5, and 6), and, relative to calf birth month, into treatments GBB1 (20 buffalo cows withJune as calf birth month) and GBB2 (20 buffalo cows with August as calf birth month). Productivity and milkcomposition were not affected (P>0.05) by calf birth month. During the experiment, there were differences(P<0.001) between GBP1 and GBP2 treatments in average milk yield (4.1 vs. 5.3 kg/day), fat yield (0.33 vs. 0.41kg/day), protein yield (0.19 vs. 0.24 kg/day), lactose yield (0.21 vs. 0.27 kg/day) and ash yield (0.033 vs. 0.044kg/day). In contrast, milk fat (80.8 g/kg), protein (45.9 g/kg), lactose (51.2 g/kg) and ash (8.2 g/kg) contents, as wellas somatic cell counts (82.9 ×1000/ml) and colony forming units (44.9 ×1000/ml), were not affected (P>0.05) byparity. Milk production and quality of Greek buffalo is generally satisfactory, and may be economically beneficialfor local breeders.