ALBERT

Description: SUMMARYThe weights of components of the alimentary tract were recorded in 55 swamp buffaloes and 51 zebu cattle slaughtered at Bogor in West Java. These were related to hot carcass weight (HCW) and slaughter live weight (SLW), the latter being calculated from locally developed regressions relating live weight to chest girth. Huxley's (1932) allometric equation was used in its logarithmic form as the basis for covariance analyses of the data. A stepwise regression analysis was also undertaken using a linear model relating HCW and gut component weight to species, sex, age and slaughter condition with SLW as the independent variable.There were significant differences in dressing percentage between buffaloes (38·1 %) and zebus (44·8%) at 340 kg SLW and these were due to species differences in full gut weight rather than weights of other non-carcass components. The allometric growth coefficients for total gut, or gut component, were generally higher in buffaloes than zebus, but the differences were not statistically significant. Together with other published data, these observations suggest that the gut contents may contribute more to the increase in live weight of buffaloes than in zebus.At the same SLW or HCW, the buffaloes had the heavier weights of full and empty total gut, full and empty reticulo-rumen and total gut contents. At the same total empty gut weight, buffaloes had the heavier empty reticulo-rumen. It was suggested that Indonesian swamp buffaloes and zebu cattle fed on village-type low-quality diets may also differ in the rate of development of their alimentary tract and this could have implications for their comparative nutritional physiology.