| Type | Public |
|---|---|
| Established | 1 February 1985; 40 years ago (1 February 1985) |
| Affiliation | Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare,Government of India |
Academic affiliations | ICAR |
| Director | Tirth Kumar Dutta |
Academic staff | 158 |
Administrative staff | 20 |
| Postgraduates | 13[1] |
| 8[1] | |
| Location | ,, India 29°11′09″N75°42′10″E / 29.1858°N 75.7028°E /29.1858; 75.7028 |
| Campus | Hisar (main), Bir Dosanjh (Nabha sub-campus) |
| Website | www |
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Central Institute for Research on Buffaloes, Hisar, apublicly funded, institute forwater buffaloresearch. It is located 170 kilometres (110 mi) from Delhi, atHisar in the north Indian state ofHaryana.[2][3] It has a sub-campus, Bir Dosanjh, atNabha. CIRB operates a nationwide network of 10 research centres working on breed improvement of the 7 main native breeds. CIRB, with over 20 laboratories for buffalo research, is the world's largest buffalo research institute with the widest range of breeds under study. With the aim of improving breeds and dissemination of information, CIRB has sold over 1,000 bulls, conducted ~200,000 artificial insemination in the field for the farmers' buffaloes with a 41% conception rate, distributed ~520,000 progeny tested frozen semen kits to 45,000 farmers and over 250 institutes, imparted training to several thousand farmers on advanced buffalo husbandry, and created the world's first onlineBuffalopedia in several languages. It has a large research partner network across India and the globe. It is the second institute to successfully clone a buffalo in 2016, after the first successful cloning was achieved by theNational Dairy Research Institute,Karnal in 2010.[4] In July 2017, theIndian Council of Agricultural Research ranked CIRB Hisar as India's number one Buffalo research institute for the year 2016–17.[5]
India has 58% the world's buffaloes and 35% of India's cattle are buffaloes. Buffalo milk is 70% of the total milk yield in India, with its national gross domestic product (GDP) share being larger than wheat and rice combined. Buffalo meat makes up 86% of India's total meat exports, earning INR 26,000 crore (US$4 billion) in 2013–14.[6] CIRB makes high-quality semen available for buffalo breeding at a very low cost to India's farmers. Semen and buffaloes, particularly theMurrah buffalo, are exported to other nations worldwide for the improvement of the breed.[7][8]
In January 2019, Haryana has 3,600,000 cattle (2,100,00 buffaloes and 1,500,000 cows) and state govt is making efforts to raise the average daily production to 10 liter per milch animal from the existing 6.8 liter, which compares poorly to global best practices such as 15 litres in Australia, 16 litres in New Zealand and 30 litres in Israel.[9][10] MoU have been signed with Brazil to improve the cattle breed throughEmbryo transfer technique and another with Israel for milk production throughgenetic engineering,cattle feed improvement,cold chain and other technologies.[10]
It came into existence on 1 February 1985 when theProgeny Testing Bull Farm Hisar, which was earlier part of theGovernment Livestock Farm, Hisar, was transferred from theGovernment of Haryana state to theIndian Council of Agricultural Research for research on buffaloes (CIRB). On 11 December 1987, a sub-campus near theBir Dosanjh Wildlife Sanctuary at Nabha inPatiala District was opened, to undertake research on theNili-Ravi breed of buffalo found in Punjab. In 2016, it became world's second center to produce a cloned buffalo. The first ever successful cloning of buffalo was done by theNational Dairy Research Institute,Karnal in 2010[4]
As per theFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), report, the global buffalo population was 148 million in 1992. Asia has 98% of the global buffalo population of nearly 194 million. In 2003, India had 98 million water buffalo (57% of world's buffalo population), followed by 23 million (12% of world's buffalo population) in China, and 3.2 million (1.6% of world's buffalo population) swamp-typecarabao in thePhilippines. Buffalo play an important part in India's national andrural economy.
The dairy industry market size in Haryana is predicted to grow at 15% CAGR from 2021 to 2026, major players being Vita, Amul, Mother Dairy, Kwality, etc.[11] In 2025, Amul'sSabar Dairy Plant atIMT Rohtak was expanded making it India's largest processing plant for curd, buttermilk, and yoghurt catering for the Haryana, Delhi-NCR, and northern India region. In 2025, Haryana was India's third largest producer of milk (122.2 lakh tonnes per year) with highest per capita milk availability in India (1,105 grams per day).[12]
Rich in zinc, calcium, proteins, magnesium, and vitamin D and B12, milk can be turned into various products such as liquid milk, ghee, curd, paneer, ice-cream, table butter, skimmed milk powder, frozen/flavoured yoghurt, fresh cream, lassi, butter milk, cheese, flavoured milk, UHT milk, dairy whitener, sweet condensed milk, infant food, and malt-based beverages.[11]
The main local breeds at CIRB are theMurrah andNili-Ravi breeds, the former is researched at main campus at Hisar and the later is bred at the Bir Dosanjh sub-station. It also networks with other institutes to undertake research, and collate and disseminate information on the 10 recognised breeds of the Indian river buffalo:Bhadawari,Banni,Jafarabadi, Marathwadi,Mehsana,Murrah,Nagpuri,Nili-Ravi,Pandharpuri,Surti, andToda and Swamp buffalo found in Assam. Buffalo milk has 58% more calcium, 40% more protein and 43% less cholesterol than cow milk. Buffalo milk is a richer source of phosphorus, vitamin A, protein and contains high levels of natural antioxidants.[1]
The institute was set up with the following aims:
Facilities include 20 research laboratories, livestock, frozen semen library, air-conditioned, 125-seat audio-visual seminar hall, guest house with accommodations for 25 guests. The main campus is at Hisar, with a satellite campus at Nabha in Punjab, and two regional stations in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat respectively.[13]
There are 41 scientists, 45 technicians, 71 support and 20 administrative staff conducting research, testing, and training. The divisions are:[1][2][7]
Hisar Annual Buffalo festival is held every year at the main campus on CIRB foundation day of 1 February, as an extension and awareness day where usually more than 4,000 farmers and breeders attend. Another annual Buffalomela is held at the Bir Dosanjh subcampus every year on 11 December.[1]
Hisar Gokul Gram, established with the cost of INR 5 crore (INR 50 million), to train milk producers andprimary cooperative milk societies.[14]
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