THE PHILIPPINE WATER BUFFALO

P-14
A STUDY ON ELECTROCARDIOGRAPHIC
PATTERNS OF PHILIPPINE CARABAOS*
R. N. Libo, Student
A preliminary study on the ECG patterns of one-hundred
seven (107) apparently normal carabaos of swamp type
breeds with ages ranging from 2 months to 12 years using
standard limb lead system was undertaken in an attempt to
establish ECG values for carabaos (Bubalus bubalis Linnaeus).
Heart rate of young carabaos below 3 years of age was found
to be significantly higher (50.87 bpm) than carabaos over 3
years of age (30.57 bpm) with a total average heart rate of
36.36 bpm and ranging from 21.42 to 85.71 bpm for all ages.
Normal sinus rhythm, sinus dysrhythmia and wandering
paremaker were commonly observed which could be
considered normal variation of heart rhythm of carabaos. The
duration and intervals as well as amplitudes (except Q wave
deflection) of bubaline ECG observed in the study were
considerably lower than the normal bovine and equine normal
ECG values of similar ages reported previously. Various
forms and occurrence of bubaline ECG deflections with respect
to the different limb lead were observed. P waves were
mainly monophasic positive consisting of upward notched,
upward pointed upward round and occasionally upward flat
were encountered in all leads except V10. Significant
occurrence of monophasic negative in all cases was observed
in V10 and less frequently in other leads. Various types of
biphasic waves with biphasic isoelectic predominating in all
leads except V10 were observed. QRS configurations showed
large variation of wave patterns characterized by the
predominance of R, Qr, qR, Qs, and rS and Rs. Notching and
nuermous different combinations of QRS complexes were
quite common except in lead V10. The T wave like the P
wave showed great variability in shapes and direction.
Monophasic negative waves consisting of inverted pointed
and inverted round T wave occurred most frequently in all
leads. Biphasic isoelectric waves were observed in all leads
as well as biphasic positive and biphasic negative except
V10. Monophasic positive, isoelectric and triphasic T wave
were also noted. The electrical axis of QRS in the bubaline
showed wider variation ranging from +30 to +171 and from -
30 to -180 with 73 (68.22%) cases were within -30 to -176. A
separated study on the S-T segment and T wave patterns will
be a great help in the fuller understanding of the bubaline
electrocardiogram since these could only be properly evaluated
if accompanied by electrolyte studies.
Keywords: ECG patterns, carabao
*Undergraduate thesis, College of Veterinary Medicine,
University of the Philippines Diliman, 1981.
40
ABSTRACT OF RESEARCHES ON
THE PHILIPPINE WATER BUFFALO
P-15
DETERMINATION OF SERUM BILIRUBIN VALUES
ON MATURE PHILIPPINE SWAMP BUFFALO
(Bubalus bubalis)*
D. S. Magbalon, Student
Sera were collected from twenty (20) apparently healthy,
mature swamp buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) and duplicated
samples in the morning and in the afternoon were analyzed
individually in two dilutions applying van den Bergh test
for bilirubin examination. It was found out that the normal
range of direct bilirubin is 0 – 0.414 mg%; 0 – 0.324 mg%
for indirect and ) – 0.521 ng% for total bilirubin with mean
value of 0.183 mg%, 0.159 mg% and 0.254 mg% for the
direct, indirect and total bilirubin respectively. T-test at 5%
significance revealed that the time of collection had no
significant effect on the serum bilirubin level. Since the
research was limited only on the Philippine swamp
buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) strictly confined under ranch
condition, it was suggested that further research must be
done to compare the bilirubin level of buffaloes reared
under various management practices. It was also
recommended that further investigation be conducted on
the immature swamp buffalo.
Keywords: serum bilirubin, swamp buffalo, van den Bergh
test
*Undergraduate thesis, College of Veterinary Medicine,
Central Luzon State University, 1989.
P-16
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL INTEGRITY
OF BUFFALO SEMEN*
F. V. Mamuad, Ph.D. Student, IAS-CA, UPLB
V. G. Momongan, Professor, IAS-CA, UPLB & Proj. Leader, PCRDC-
PCARRD, UPLB
Two studies were conducted to characterize and compare
the different physiological and biochemical integrity of
spermatozoa of Murrah buffalo (MB), Philippine carabao
(PC) and crossbred of MB x PC (CB). The first study
was conducted to describe the changes on the physiological
integrity as affected by processing and storage. Three
evaluation methods were used in addition to the standard
semen evaluation techniques: Sephadex Filter Test (SFT),
cervical mucus penetration test (CMPT), and hypo-osmotic
medium (HOM). Results of the evaluation indicated percent
motility dropped significantly (P