Buffalo genetic resources in India and their conservation

Introduction  

The buffalo forms the backbone of India’s dairy industry and is rightly considered as the ‘bearer cheque’ for the rural farmers. Asian countries have been producing over 96 percent of world’s total buffalo milk at an annual growth rate of 4.0 percent. The indigenous and non-descript buffaloes contribute 45% of total milk produced in India with 89 million tonnes. The world’s buffalo population has been estimated to be about 185.3 million, and of which 56 percent, i.e. 103.8 million, are present in India. These animals require a relatively low level of inputs in the predominantly mixed farming systems, and are well known for their ability to thrive on low-quality crop residues and green forage under harsh climatic conditions. Furthermore, the contributions of milk, meat, manure and draft power of the buffalo to the overall national economy have been overwhelming. So needless to add, buffalo is one of the most important livestock in India and its genetic potential for production and reproduction traits has to be improved to cater to the huge demand for milk production of our country.

What is Conservation

Conservation is the act or process of protection, preservation, management or restoration of wildlife, livestock and natural and cultural resources and management of human use of bio-sphere so that it may yield the greatest sustainable benefit to the present generation.

Breed types, Origin and Domestication

The Asiatic and European buffaloes belong to the genus Bubalus, while the African buffaloes to the genus Syncerus.

The Asiatic genus consists of two types (river or swamp) distinguishable on the basis of their appearance, behavior, use and habitat. The river buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) of the Indian sub-continent, Egypt and Mediterranean basin of Europe have been evolved chiefly for milk production but they have potential to produce good meat. On the other hand, the swamp buffalo is more or less a permanent denizen of marshy lands where it wallows in mud and feed on coarse marsh grass. It is mainly found in South East Asia and China and has a very minor or no role in milk production. These buffalo has been reared for draft power for crop land preparation, rural transportation, threshing, water lifting and oil extraction from oil seeds.

The African buffaloes, referred to as the wild buffalo or Cape buffalo, include two sub-species; Syncerus caffer caffer (the African or red buffalo) and Syncerus caffer nanus (the Congo buffalo). The buffaloes never achieved domestication and still are wild or semi wild. 

The original domesticated stock of buffaloes is believed to have been derived from the Indian wild buffalo, Bubalus arnee. The swamp buffalo was probably first domesticated in China some 5000 years ago while the river buffalo seems to have been originated and domesticated in the Indo-Gangetic plains earlier than the domestication of swamp buffaloes. 

Buffalo Genetic Resource in India 

India is a vast country and major parts of the country are located in tropical, sub-tropical and temperate zones. Therefore, diversity of buffalo genetic resources has been evolved under such widely varying agro-ecological conditions. India has been regarded as an extremely rich gold mine of buffalo germplasm resources as it harbors 19 buffalo breeds. All the buffalo breeds of India and their home tract has been depicted below.

These breed types constitute only about 40% of the population while the remaining 60% represent an admixture of different breeds and are commonly referred to as Desi or non-descript types. However, the germplasm of well-defined breeds constitutes a valuable genetic resource in our country such as Murrah, Nili-Ravi, Jaffarabadi, Surti, Mehsana, Chilika, Nagpuri and Bhadawari.  

Conservation of Buffalo Genetic Resources 

The country’s buffalo genetic resources need to be used judiciously. The rich biological diversity of this species is progressively being eroded due to unplanned breeding except in few organized farms which maintain small herds of pure breed. The is also hinderances for breed improvement due to scarcity of breeding bulls of superior genetic merit. The high producing milch buffaloes from the breeding tract, representing the best germplasm are taken to metropolitan cities in large numbers for milk production. After completion of lactation, these buffaloes are slaughtered, causing a serious erosion of elite germplasm. Therefore, the conservation of buffalo genetic resources and their genetic improvement for performance traits is the priority area to produce the best germplasm of elite animals. 

Broadly, there are two means of conservation i.e. in situ and ex situ. Conserving the live animals that exist in nature is in situ conservation. The animals are maintained in their original habitats under native conditions with no interference in their mode of management, feeding and other conditions. The main problem of in situ conservation is inbreeding and genetic drift typical of small populations. The ex situ conservation is applied when the endangered population is dismally low in number. The conservation strategies are described in the followings. 

Ex-situ conservation

Under the ex-situ conservation, the spermatozoa, oocytes, embryos, DNA and embryonic stem cell are conserved.

• Sperms and oocytes: Deep freezing of semen is suitable technique to conserve the endangered species.
• Embryos: Cryopreservation of embryos of buffaloes has successfully been done to produce the offspring. This is a better tool for conservation as all the genetic information is stored in one diploid zygote.
• Storage of DNA: Cryogenic storage of DNA is another method of preservation of genetic material.
• Cloning of somatic cells: The somatic cells or fibroblast cells are generated up to 5th or 6th generation and can be preserved for its use to produce the clone animal. Cloning offers the advantage of producing series of exact replica /copy of the concerned animals.
• Embryonic stem cells: Embryonic stem cells are derived from culture of inner cell mass of a young blastocyst. These embryonic cells are totipotent and have potential to develop into viable embryos.

In-situ conservation 

The in-situ conservation of buffaloes is done at the farmer’s herd. By using this conservation programme, the superior germplasm has been produced for the breed improvement programme of the farmer’s herd. 

Conclusion

In majority of the cases, the true productive potential of individual breeds of buffaloes in their breeding tracts has not been adequately documented. There is an urgent requirement to uniformly describe all the Indian buffalo breeds by utilizing common breed descriptors, by studying their native environment, management practices, qualitative and quantitative aspects of morphological, physiological and functional traits, blood groups and biochemical polymorphisms, cytogenetic parameters, DNA analyses, utility and demographical and geographical distributions. This will lead to the identification of the types of genes and gene combinations available in different breeds and will also assist in formulating breeding policies and selection of animals for conservation, propagation and improvement programmes.

Content contributors

• Soumya Dash- ICAR-National Institute of Biotic Stress Management, Raipur-493225, Chhattisgarh
• Pushp Raj Shivahre- Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Udai Pratap College, Varanasi-221002, Uttar Pradesh