Abstract
Interest in buffalo breeding has increased, due to certain advantages in relation to cattle breeding. The objective of this article was to review the reproductive biological characteristics of buffaloes. Buffaloes have their peculiarities regarding the reproductive characteristics, the females are seasonal polyestrous breeders of short days, the puberty’s buffalo is reached in ages more than in the bovine, the detection of the estrus is more difficult because of the estrus it happens at dawn and the females of buffalo have few physiological changes producers have difficulty detecting estrus. The gestation period varies between 300 and 320 days. Males have smaller external reproductive organs and less intense sexual behavior in relation to cattle. Buffalo females exhibit reproductive differences such as the hyperpigmented vulva and smaller and lighter, more rigid and tortuously inner structures with more muscle tone. There are some advantages in the creation of buffaloes were evidenced, such as their rusticity and adaptation to areas that would be unsuitableto cattle production, besides counting on products such as milk and meat of good quality. Several protocols of oestrus and ovulation synchronization have been adopted, to improve reproductive efficiency. These protocols have resulted in a pregnancy rates increase of 30% to 50%. It is concluded that buffalo breeding has space within the animal production system, especially in areas that would be suitable for the breeding of other ruminant species.
Highlights
There are approximately 200 million head of buffaloes in the world, milk production has increased 24.5% in the last decade, and the annual production is 97.5 million tons
The growth of the world buffalo population is due to factors such as milk quality and meat, higher resistance to parasitic infections, especially ticks of the species Rhipicephalus microplus, and intoxications by toxic plants, to the difficult development of diseases commonly observed in cattle, such as infections in the female reproductive tract and mammary gland, with good feed conversion efficiency and the low maintenance requirements of buffaloes that are profitable for farmers (Phogat et al, 2016)
Riaz et al (2019) found that there is an antagonistic effect on the regulation of Follicle Stimulating Hormone Receptor (FSHR) in buffalo and reveals that it may have an association with FSH receptors in buffalo ovaries with the use of melatonin the authors increased the level of mRNA of the buffalo as there was only evidence that the receptor on Melatonin receptor 1 (MT1) in the chorionic gonadotropin (CG) regulated secretions of gonadotrophins from the pituitary gland which in turn controlled the secretion of gonadotrophin hormones or ovarian steroids
Summary
There are approximately 200 million head of buffaloes in the world, milk production has increased 24.5% in the last decade, and the annual production is 97.5 million tons. Several studies have been carried out to improve the production and quality of buffalo milk, many studies have reported, in the last 5 years, aspects and management techniques aimed at improving reproductive efficiency in water buffalo (El-Sisy et al, 2018). Several protocols of oestrus and ovulation synchronization have been adopted from their use in commercial cattle production. These protocols yield pregnancy rates of (30% to 50%), which are comparable to those achieved in buffaloes breed at natural oestrus. This article aims to review the main reproductive and management characteristics of buffaloes, describing main points positive and negative aspects of the production system and recent bio techniques, in male and female, have revolutionized and opened avenues for studying and manipulating the reproductive process both in vitro and in vivo in various livestock for improving reproductive efficiency
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