Buffaloes for dairying in South Asia: potential, challenges and way forward

Abstract

Buffalo is considered the dairy animal for 21 st century due to its higher adaptability and productivity in the changing climatic conditions. There is a large diversity in the buffalo genetic resources and South Asia is home of high yielding source promising buffalo breed of Murrah and Nail Ravi. South Asia is inhabitant of 151.49 million buffalo populations out of 194.29 million of global populations. Besides, about 79.74 % of Asia and 77.9 % of world buffalo populations are inhabitant in South Asian countries. During the last decade, the world buffalo population has been increased by approximately 1.49% annually. South Asia is currently producing 100.74 million metric tons of buffalo milk which is about 96.05 % of Asia and 93.19 % of world buffalo milk production. The share of buffalo milk is around 51.07% of the total milk production of the South Asia. The contribution of buffalo milk in India, Nepal and Pakistan are 51.2%, 66.6% and 59.5% respectively in total milk production. Among the South Asian countries, maximum milk is produced by India followed by Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. The productivity of buffalo has been recorded 410 kg Although most of the buffaloes are non-descript indigenous types and their production potential is not satisfactory. There are different production systems are prevailing such as zero input-low output, low input-medium output and high input-high output. Moreover, selective breeding for buffalo with the same breed under low input-medium output production system and grading up of non-descript buffaloes using improver breed/s under zero input-low output production system has been commonly practiced. The demand of milk has been increasing due to economic solvency and rapid pace of urbanization but most of the countries are deficit in production even it is challenging to meet the * Corresponding author e-mail: nasiddiky.saarc@gmail.com : 10.11.2017: 10.11. Accepted: 30.11.2017 228 N.A. Siddiky & M.O. Faruque projected demand to achieve the SDG by 2030. To increase the productivity through genetic improvement of buffaloes could be important thrust areas to obtain projected demand of milk. Productive and reproductive efficiency can only be improved by adopting suitable breeding policies and good management practices. Received

Impact of Dietary Phytogenic Composite Feed Additives on Immune Response, Antioxidant Status, Methane Production, Growth Performance and Nutrient Utilization of Buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) Calves

“…Buffaloes are an integral part of the livestock production system in South Asian countries, and 57% of global buffalo population is present in India [ 18 ]. Contributing nearly 50% of total milk production, buffaloes play an important role in food and the nutritional security of the country [ 19 ].…”

Occurrence and aetiology of subclinical mastitis in water buffalo in Bangladesh

“…Water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis ) farming in Asian countries has grown exponentially over the past half century, and contributes around 13% of global milk production (Siddiky and Faruque, 2018). Water buffalo farming is also becoming popular in Bangladesh due to increasing demand for buffalo milk and milk products, greater resistance to many diseases compared with cows and lower management efforts and feeding costs (Hamid et al ., 2016).…”

Genetic Diversity Relationship in Azakheli Buffalo Inferred from mtDNA and MC1R Sequences Comparison

“…Swamp buffalo (2n = 48) is distributed in Thailand, Malaysia, China, Bangladesh, and the Southeast Asian countries. There is a total of five breeds of water buffaloes in Pakistan, including Nili, Ravi, Nili-Ravi, Kundi, and Azakheli [1][2][3][4]. Azakheli or Azikheli is an indigenous livestock dairy buffalo breed of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan, also well known for its toughness, disease resistance, high fertility, survival on little inputs, and adaptability to variable environments [5,6].…”

“…Pakistan and India are enriched with milch type of buffaloes with tremendous potential in livestock sector for milk and meat production. Whereas, swamp buffalo breeds can be found in other countries, which are primarily used for transport, draught, and meat purposes in rural areas [ 1 , 2 ]. The high buffalo milk-producing countries reared water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis ) in tropical and subtropical regions as multipurpose agricultural animals.…”