STUDIES ON UDDER AND TEAT MEASUREMENTS AS AFFECTED BY PARITY AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH MILK YIELD IN MURRAH BUFFALOES

An investigation was undertaken to study the udder and teat measurements as affected by parity and their relationship with milk yield in Murrah buffaloes. A total of 200 buffaloes in Krishna and West Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh in India were considered to study the udder and teat measurements. The results showed that mean length, width and depth of udder in different lactations ranged from 52.21±0.61 to 55.71±0.59, 48.61±0.60 to 53.87±0.70 and 15.46±0.17 to 15.78±0.18 cm, respectively. Positive and signifi cant correlations were observed among all the udder measurements. The average teat length and diameter were 7.81±0.15 and 2.76±0.02 cm respectively. A positive correlation was found among the udder measurements, viz., udder length, udder width and udder depth and between these measurements and the average daily milk yield. However, the correlation was signifi cant only between udder width and average daily milk yield. A positive correlation existed between the average daily milk yield and the various teat measurements such as teat length, teat diameter and the distance between the front and hind teats. However, the correlation was signifi cant only between average daily milk yield and the teat diameter (P<0.01).