Charan Chantalakhana1
1 Buffalo types and distributions
The water buffaloes of economic importance consist essentially of three major groups: Riverine, Swamp, and Mediterranean. They are distributed in more than 50 countries around the world. Most of them, especially the riverine and swamp types, are raised by small farmers in developing countries. In 1990 there were approximately 140 million water buffaloes in the world, compared with only 90 million in 1961 (see Table 1). Water buffaloes are being raised in many parts of the world including Asia, Africa, Latin America, as well as Australia and Eastern Europe. During recent years some water buffaloes, mostly of the swamp type, have also been introduced into the USA in order to investigate their adaptability and use for commercial purposes.
During the past three decades (1961–1990) the number of buffaloes in the world steadily and consistently increased in all regions except in Eastern Europe where numbers decreased during 1981–1990. The most striking expansion in numbers has taken place in the Latin American countries, especially Brazil, where some estimates put the buffalo population as high as 1.6 million. Furthermore, buffaloes have spread into more than 13 Latin American countries.
Water buffaloes are raised for milk and meat, as well as draught power and manure. In South Asia, some buffaloes, mainly of the riverine type, are raised for milk and others for both milk and draught power; buffalo meat is also becoming an important source of animal protein.
For small-farm production systems in developing countries, buffaloes serve as an integral part of crop production, providing draught power and manure for fertilizer as well as other uses. The role of buffaloes is socio-economically quite significant, especially in the lowland rain rice production systems prevalent in Asia. Large-scale commercial buffalo production for meat or milk also exists in many countries, for example, in Egypt, Bulgaria, Brazil, India, Pakistan, and Italy.
It is estimated that, of all three major groups of water buffaloes, about 70 % are riverine type, 28 % swamp type, and less than 2 % Mediterranean type. The riverine buffaloes are concentrated mainly in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka (Soni, 1991), with total population numbers in 1990 including those in Brazil and Egypt, of about 100 million (see Table 2). The swamp buffaloes are raised mainly in Brunei, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Lao, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, as well as other countries like Australia and USA (see table 3). The total number in 1990 was approximately 40 million. The rest of the water buffaloes in the world (less than 2 million) are mainly Mediterranean type; some of them could be related to the riverine or the swamp buffaloes due to a long history of animal introduction and interbreeding. The Mediterranean buffaloes are mainly in Italy and countries of the Near East and Eastern Europe.
Table 1: Number of buffaloes by continent (source : FAO, 1991).
| Continents | Years | ||||
| 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1990 | change per annum | |
| (In millions) | (percentage) | ||||
| Asia | 88.0 | 108.4 | 122.7 | 136.3 | 1.8 |
| Africa | 1.1 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 2.6 | 4.6 |
| Latin | 0.06 | 0.14 | 0.54 | 1.23 | 6.3 |
| America | |||||
| Europe | 0.53 | 0.39 | 0.44 | 0.38 | -0.9 |
| World | 90.5 | 111.4 | 126.4 | 140.9 | 0.2 |
Notes to table 1:
1. Africa: includes only Egypt and Mauritius. Some numbers of buffaloes can be found in
Madagascar, Mozambique, S. Africa, Uganda, Zaire and Congo.
2. Latin America: includes only Brazil. Some numbers of buffaloes can be found in
Venezuela, Trinidad, Peru, Paraguay, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Surinam, Honduras,
Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Uruguay.
3. World: Australia which has more than 200,000 buffalo is not included.
2 Buffaloes in Asia
Two major breed groups of water buffaloes in Asia are the riverine and the swamp buffaloes. Table 2 shows the number of buffaloes in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. The total number of riverine buffaloes in Asia in 1990 was 96 million of which 75 million were in India and 15 million in Pakistan. The indices of growth in buffalo populations in India and Pakistan were positive from 1961 to 1990 being in the range of 1.0 to 1.7% per year in India and 2.1 to 4.2 % in Pakistan. Only Bhutan and Nepal had negative growth indices of buffalo number during 1981 to 1990. Soni (1991) indicated that, through a cytogenetic study conducted by the National Dairy Research Institute of Karnal (India), all the animals of recognized breeds of water buffaloes in India had the riverine type chromosome configuration with 2n = 50. A few nondescript animals in Assam and Orissa States had swamp-type or riverine x swamp crossbred type chromosome configurations.
The most important Indian (riverine) breeds of buffaloes are the Murrah, Surti, Mehsana, Jaffarabadi, Bhadawari, Nagpuri, and Toda, while the most important Pakistan breeds are Nili-Ravi and Kundi (Soni, 1991). Detailed descriptions and characteristics of these breeds have been well documented in various publications such as that by Cockrill (1974), Sivarajasingam (1987), Mudgal and Sethi (1990) and Soni (1991). Hence detailed figures on different traits of riverine breeds will not be repeated here.
Table 2: Number of riverine buffaloes in Asia (source: FAO, 1991).
| Countries | Years | ||||
| 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1990 | change per annum | |
| (In millions) | (percentage) | ||||
| Bangladesh | 0.47 | 0.81 | 1.60 | 2.05 | 11.2 |
| Bhutan | 3,000 | 3,700 | 5,500 | 4,000 | 1.1 |
| Sri Lanka | 0.77 | 0.73 | 0.90 | 1.02 | 1.1 |
| India | 51.21 | 56.88 | 67.50 | 75.00 | 1.6 |
| Nepal | 2.93 | 3.66 | 3.50 | 2.95 | 0.0 |
| Pakistan | 6.70 | 9.55 | 11.92 | 15.00 | 4.1 |
Note to Table 2: The number for Bhutan is the actual number of animals.
The numbers of swamp buffaloes in Asian countries during 1961 to 1990 are shown in Table 3. In 1990 more than 54 % of these swamp buffaloes were in the Chinese Peoples Republic, and more than 45 % were in Southeast Asian countries. The rest were in small countries like Taiwan and Brunei. During 1981 to 1990, the indices of growth of buffalo populations in quite a few countries in Southeast Asia showed a negative trend, such as those in the Philippines and Malaysia and Thailand. Taiwan, Singapore, Brunei and Guam also showed negative growth in buffalo population, though their populations were very small. Bunyavejchewin and Chantalakhana (1991) summarized the situation of buffalo production in East and Southeast Asia and stressed its economic importance in relation to meat, draught power, and manure utilization especially on small farms in rural areas.
Compared with the riverine breeds such as Murrah or Nili Ravi, the genetic characteristics of the swamp buffaloes have been less well described. The information on different traits of swamp buffaloes has been reviewed by some authors including Sivarajasingam (1987) and Chantalakhana (1992). It is generally recognized that there are no distinctly different breeds among the swamp buffaloes, most of which are confined mainly to countries in East and Southeast Asia and Australia. However, some differences have been observed among populations of swamp buffaloes. For example, animal body weight shows differences. Heavy, medium and small strains of swamp buffaloes have been reported in China (Chantalakhana, 1992), while certain populations of Thai swamp buffaloes are recognized as heavier animals. In general only some traits of outer appearance, such as skin colors or horn shape can be used to differentiate groups of swamp buffaloes. The performance and reproductive traits reported so far do not present any clear evidence to indicate the existence of different breeds in the swamp buffaloes. It should be noted also that almost all the information available in swamp buffaloes is of a phenotypic nature and it can be expected that, to a high degree, the differences reported among animal groups are due to feeding, management and other environmental factors. However, Mukherjee et al. (1991) studied genetic relationships among populations of swamp buffalo in Southeast Asia, using the Nei genetic distance and reported that the distances among these populations are within the range exhibited for distances among breeds of European domestic livestock.
Table 3: Number of swamp buffaloes in Asia (source : FAO, 1991).
| Countries | Years | ||||
| 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1990 | change per annum | |
| (In millions) | (percentage) | ||||
| Brunei | 0.01 | 0.02 | 0.01 | 0.01 | 0.0 |
| Myanmar | 1.05 | 1.60 | 1.97 | 2.02 | 3.1 |
| China | 8.04 | 16.08 | 18.52 | 21.40 | 5.5 |
| Hong Kong | 2,000 | 1,350 | 150 | 143 | -3.1 |
| Indonesia | 2.87 | 2.92 | 2.49 | 3.46 | 0.7 |
| Cambodia | 0.52 | 0.86 | 0.40 | 0.75 | 1.5 |
| Laos | 0.42 | 0.74 | 0.88 | 1.09 | 5.3 |
| Malaysia | 0.35 | 0.30 | 0.26 | 0.22 | |
| Philippines | 3.45 | 4.56 | 2.85 | 2.77 | -0.7 |
| Singapore | 3,130 | 3,200 | 400 | 150 | -3.2 |
| Thailand | 4.96 | 5.57 | 6.12 | 4.72 | -0.2 |
| Vietnam | 2.21 | 2.27 | 2.32 | 2.87 | 1.0 |
Note to Table 3: The numbers for Hong Kong and Singapore are the actual numbers of animals.
3 Buffaloes in Africa and the Near East
Buffaloes in Africa are mainly confined to Egypt, where in 1990 the total number was 2.55 million (see Table 4) and the indices of the population growth during 1961 to 1990 were positive, ranging from 0.9 to 3.5. The magnitude of annual population growth, however, appears to be declining in recent years. Buffaloes in Egypt are mainly of the riverine type (El-Serafy, 1991) and belong to one breed (Cockrill, 1974) of two vaguely differentiated local types, the Beheri of the Delta and the Saidi of Upper Egypt.
Buffaloes in Iraq and Iran were described as similar or related to those of Egypt (Cockrill, 1974). The population size of buffaloes in Iraq has been decreasing during recent years, while that of Iran showed a slight increase, with growth index of 0.4 during 1981 to 1990. Buffalo populations in Jordan and Syria are rather small being 150 and 1200 head in 1990, respectively.
Table 4: Number of buffaloes in Africa and Near East (source : FAO, 1991).
| Countries | Years | ||||
| 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1990 | change per annum | |
| (In millions) | (percentage) | ||||
| Africa | |||||
| Egypt | 1.50 | 2.06 | 2.37 | 2.55 | 2.3 |
| Mauritius | 20 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 0.0 |
| Near East | |||||
| Iran | 0.25 | 0.18 | 0.22 | 0.23 | -0.3 |
| Iraq | 0.25 | 0.27 | 0.18 | 0.15 | -1.4 |
| Jordan | 200 | 200 | 132 | 150 | -0.8 |
| Syria | 1,400 | 846 | 2,200 | 1,200 | -0.5 |
| Turkey | 1.14 | 1.11 | 1.03 | 0.54 | -1.8 |
Note to Table 4: Numbers in Mauritius, Jordan and Syria are the actual numbers of animals.
It was reported that some numbers of water buffaloes were introduced into some Sub-Sahara countries, such as Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zaire, but most of them disappeared due to diseases, war, or simply mismanagement (Cockrill, 1974). Recently, some swamp buffaloes from Thailand have been introduced to Senegal for draught and breeding purposes. So far they are reported to be surviving well.
4 Buffaloes in Latin America
According to the FAO statistics, there were 1.2 million buffaloes in Brazil in 1990, and the annual growth indices ranged from 7.7 to 17.7 per cent during 1961 to 1990 (see Table 5). But Cabrera (1988) reported the number of buffaloes in Brazil of 1.6 million, as well as numbers of buffaloes in twelve other Latin American countries (see footnote of Table 5). Buffaloes in Brazil and other countries in Latin America are mainly related to the riverine or the swamp type, although some may be of the Mediterranean breed. Buffaloes in Brazil are raised for meat or milk, as well as for draught purpose in some regions of the country. It was reported that water buffaloes will become one of the major meat animals in Brazil within a coming decade (Cabrera, 1988). The Brazilian Association of Buffalo Breeders has played a very important role in promoting buffalo development and enterprise in that country.
Buffalo population in other Latin American countries, except Brazil and Venezuela, are still small and on an experimental scale. However, buffalo production performances reported so far have shown promising potential for milk, meat and draught purposes, as well as their high adaptability to adverse environmental conditions.
Table 5: Number of buffaloes in Latin America (source : FAO, 1991).
| Countries | Years | ||||
| 1961 | 1971 | 1981 | 1990 | change per annum | |
| (In millions) | (percentage) | ||||
| Brazil | 0.06 | 0.13 | 0.54 | 1.23 | 65.0 |
Note to Table 5: Cabrera (1988) reports the number of buffaloes in other countries as follows.
| 1. Venezuela | 25,000 |
| 2. Trinidad | 7,000 |
| 3. Peru | 32,000 |
| 4. Paraguay | 25,000 |
| 5. Argentina | 2,000 |
| 6. Ecuador | 1,100 |
| 7. Colombia | 500 |
| 8. Surinam | 500 |
| 9. Honduras | 120 |
| 10. Costa Rica | 100 |
| 11. Bolivia | 40 |
| 12. Uruguay | 12 |
| 13. Brazil | 1,600,000 |
Latin America 1,642,072
5 Priority Breeds of Buffaloes
As shown by Mudgal and Sethi (1990) in Table 6 there are five major breed groups of riverine buffaloes in Asia, some of which have been introduced to other parts of the world such as Africa, Near East, Latin America, and Eastern Europe, including some members of the Commonwealth of Independent States. Of these major breed groups, there are 15 well-defined breeds of the riverine buffaloes in India and Pakistan, as described by Mudgal and Sethi (1990). The priority breeds of riverine buffaloes which should be considered for support in conservation and development in order of priority are: (1) Murrah, and (2) Nili-Ravi. The other breed group of buffaloes which equally deserves support for development and conservation is the swamp buffalo.
Table 6: River buffalo breeds of Asia
| Group | Name of breeds |
| 1. Murrah | Murrah, Nili-Ravi Kundi |
| 2. Gujarat | Surti, Mehsana, Jaffarabadi |
| 3. Uttar Pradesh | Bhadawari, Tarai |
| 4. Central Indian | Nagpuri, Pandharpuri, Manda, Jerangi, Kalahandi, Sambalpur |
| 5. South Indian | Toda, South Kanara. |
The swamp and riverine breeds are proposed for development conservation due to their important roles in the rural economy of most developing countries in the world. On the other hand, the Mediterranean buffaloes are mainly confined to Italy and some Eastern European countries, with relatively small population sizes.
5.1 Priority buffalo breeds
6 Justification for Conservation of Proposed Breeds
It is generally recognized that buffaloes are the poor man's cows. Almost all riverine and swamp buffaloes in the world belong to small farmers in developing countries. They provide milk, meat, draught power, manure as fertilizer, as well as source of income and employment. Crop yield in most rural small farms, where buffaloes have been integrated into agricultural systems, has been sustained through the use of buffalo manure to maintain soil fertility. Agricultural wastes, such as straws and stubble, as well as by-products which are available in small amounts and not marketable, are used by the buffalo and turned into the value-added products of milk, meat and draught power.
In 1990 there were more than 38.5 million milking buffaloes producing more than 43.7 million metric tons of raw milk. And, approximately 10.7 million buffaloes were slaughtered to provide more than 1.6 million metric of red meat supply in the world. More important, however, about one third to one half of buffaloes in small farm herds in developing countries have been used to provide draught power for crop production, especially in lowland rainfed paddy areas. In addition their social, cultural, and other traditional values, which cannot be measured in economic terms, are very important to rural village farmers.
The Murrah is the most well-known riverine breed and originated in India, while the Nili-Ravi originated in Pakistan. Both breeds are better known for their milking ability, with average lactation milk yield of 1600 to 1700 kg during 300 days, with butterfat of 7 percent. They are among the bigger breeds of the riverine type with average mature weights of 500–550 kg for both the Murrah and Nili-Ravi (Mudgal and Sethi, 1990). Hence, many of them are also being used as draught animals by small farmers throughout the developing world.
Murrah buffaloes are the largest group of the riverine buffaloes to be introduced to various countries, such as the Chinese Peoples Republic and Southeast Asian countries for crossbreeding with the local swamp buffaloes to produce dual or triple purpose offspring. Various reports from China such as that by Xiao Yongzuo (1990), indicated that Murrah x swamp crossbreeds were fertile and promising as animals for milk-and-meat or for milk-meat-draught purpose. The Nili-Ravi were also introduced to several countries, such as The Peoples Republic of China and the Philippines for experimental crossbreeding with local swamp buffaloes in order to increase milk yield, as well as meat and draught abilities, in the crossbreds.
It is well recognized that real genetic potentials of these breeds are much higher than that reflected by their averages. For instance, Soni (1991) indicated that some of the Murrahs in Haryana province could produce up to 5000 kg of milk per lactation. Breeding improvement of these riverine breeds would be of direct benefits to rural farmers in term of raising their nutritional standards, income, and employment. However, lack of well-organized systematic genetic improvement, including genetic testing, data bank facilities, effective gene bank and exchange of germplasm has kept these animals' potential from being efficiently utilized for the well-being of rural farmers in developing countries. As a matter of fact, some riverine populations appeared to be genetically eroded due to loss of superior germplasm through various causes such as inbreeding and disease etc.
Swamp buffaloes are well known for their potential as draught and meat animal. They mostly belong to small farmers in developing countries of East and Southeast Asia. However, a big population also exists in Northern Australia. In spite of their great potentials for meat and draught power, the swamp buffaloes have remained neglected as far as genetic improvement is concerned. The swamp buffaloes have been regarded as an exceptionally well-adapted to harsh environmental and feeding conditions, and as a result they are taken for granted as a self-sustaining species. Most animal scientists in developing countries do not have a good understanding of this animal.
In many countries, large strong male buffaloes are commonly castrated around the age of 2 to 3 year to be trained for work. As a consequence, larger bulls are being culled or prevented from breeding. It has been evident that, in Thailand, for example, during the last three decades the body weight at slaughter of the Thai swamp buffaloes has been reduced from an average of close to 600 kg to 500 kg or less. There are no genetic testing and selection schemes for swamp buffalo, except a small programme in Thailand where a 300-cow herd has been organized for genetic selection based on body weight and growing ability.
It is quite alarming to take note that almost all small farmers do not maintain any breeding buffalo bull. Mating a young male with its dam or sisters often take place in villages. Smaller bulls not castrated for work also mate their own daughters or genetically related females. Populations of swamp buffaloes in many Southeast Asian countries have been reducing drastically due to growing demand for beef and illegal slaughter. In Thailand, during the last 3 or 4 years the number of swamp buffaloes reduced from more than 6 million to less than 5 million.
It should be noted also that during the past decade crossbreeding of swamp buffaloes with riverine breeds, such as Murrah or Nili-Ravi, has been promoted by government livestock programmes in several countries and has become popular among village farmers. It is anticipated that the rates of crossbreeding between swamp and riverine breeds will increase substantially in the coming decade due to good performances of crossbreds and their acceptance by farmers. It is therefore imperative that germplasm conservation and management for swamp buffaloes should be supported in order to prevent the loss of genetic potential and purity of the swamp buffaloes. Crossbreeding programmes between swamp with riverine buffaloes which have been implemented in various countries should be examined for their long-term impacts and the resulting crossbreds ought to be closely examined for their real suitability to local farming systems conditions, both from genetic and socio-economic aspects.
7 References
Bunyavejchewin P. and C. Chantalakhana, 1990. Buffalo Production in East and Southeast Asia-Problems and prospects. International Buffalo Information Centre (IBIC), Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. p.30–45.
Cabrera, A.M.F. 1988. Buffalo production systems in Latin America. Proceedings of the Second World Buffalo Congress (Vol. 2 Part 1), ICAR, New Delhi, India. p. 43–61.
Chantalakhana, C. 1992. Genetics and breeding of swamp buffaloes. Chapter 4 in Elsevier World Animal Science Series C9 “Buffalo Production”, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (in print).
Cockrill, W.R. 1974. The husbandry and health of the domestic buffalo. FAO/UN, Rome, Italy. pp.993.
El-Serafy, A.M. 1991. Problems and prospects of buffalo production in the Middle East. International Buffalo Information Centre (IBIC), Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. p. 46–64.
FAO. 1991. Production Year Book. Statistics series No. 99
Mudgal, V.D. and R.K. Sethi, 1990. Riverine breeds of buffaloes in Asia. Proceedings of Seminar on “Buffalo genotypes for small farms in Asia”. p. 27–44. UPM, Serdang, Malaysia.
Mukherjee, T.K., J.S.F. Barker, S.G. Tan, O.S. Selvaraj, J.M. Panandam, Y. Yashayati, and K. Sreetharan. 1991. Genetic relationships among populations of swamp buffalo in Southeast Asia. ACIAR Proceedings 34:34–40.
Sivarajasingam, S. 1987. Improvement and conservation of buffalo genetic resources in Asia. In “Animal Genetic Resources : Strategies for improved use and conservation”. FAO Animal Production and Health Paper No. 66 : 55–74. Rome, Italy.
Soni, B.K. 1991. Buffalo production in South Asia. In “Buffalo production around the world: problems and prospects”. International Buffalo Information Centre (IBIC), Kasetsart University, Bangkok, Thailand. p 17–29.
Xiao Yongzuo, 1990. The buffalo improvement program in China. Proceedings of Seminar on “Buffalo genotypes for small farms in Asia”. p. 111–116. UPM Serdang, Malaysia.
