Water buffalo produce milk and meat to support rural economies world-wide. The global population of the species is ~200 million and they are mainly found in Asia followed by Africa. More people in the world depend on this species for their livelihoods than any other domesticated animals. Despite having important agricultural traits such as disease tolerance and adaptation to hotter climates, efforts to improve the species genetically has been hampered by lack of SNP markers to guide the breeding process.

Many farmers in poorer nations rely on buffalo to make a living. These farmers would like to have animals with better productivity traits but are unable to efficiently select them. Usually, it is the role of main government agencies in their respective countries to select the animals for genetic improvement and distribute the germplasm to farmers. These agencies lack resources to upgrade buffalo despite the availability of genomics tools. In comparison to cattle farmers who benefited from the 1000 Bull Genomes Project, the farmers working with buffalo are at least 10 years behind in making similar progress using genomics tools. Existing SNP chips for the water buffalo poorly represents buffalo polymorphism, especially the swamp type. Therefore researchers and farmers working on water buffalo are unable to apply efficient genotyping solutions because to do so will first require discovery of swamp- and river-type buffalo SNPs.

What we envision in this project is mutually beneficial international collaborations between researchers working on water buffalo to share DNA sequences to pave the way toward more efficient genotyping of the species. This will help to speed up genetic improvement and conservation of this species. We are laying out a large-scale project to discover SNPs from different buffalo populations, and will make the data open and accessible for everyone. We hope the project will contribute to sustainable and efficient farming, uplift livelihoods of farmers, enhance food security and genetic conservation in the face of climate change and agricultural industrialisation.

The water-buffalo as a source of milk, meat, hide and draft-power

The water buffalo is a significant livestock for milk, meat and draft power in Asia. There are two types, the river- and swamp-type which differs in chromosome number, utility and geographical location. These two types of water buffalo is more diverse than the taurine and indicine sub-species. Intensive breeding development of these animals, especially the river-type, are implemented in countries such as India, Pakistan, Italy, Brazil, China and the Philippines.

River-type

Philippine swamp buffalo Photo source from Philippine Carabao Center

Swamp-type

Philippine swamp buffalo Photo source from Philippine Carabao Center

Genomic research and genetic improvement

Advancement in genome sequencing such as the Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and Third-Generation Sequencing (TGS) has pushed forward high-throughput genome sequencing at much reduced cost. Genome research for buffalo is lacking compared to other livestock animals such as cattle and sheep; wherein genome studies for these animals already started as early as 2004. While other ruminant species are moving towards pangenome sequencing and targeted/low-pass sequencing for genotyping, the water buffalo research in this area is still lagging behind.

Creation of technologies that incorporates genomic research and genetic selection in livestock management will improve and boost the animal’s productivity. For example, the impact of applying genomic solutions to 5 breeds of cattle in the United States has increased their economic value which led to double profitability for the last 10 years. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has invested approximately a $100 million for their cattle research in the last decade, and the calculated return of investment is about $4 billion, which will accumulate throughout the year due to gradual increase of genetic gains for the animal. Although genome research will be quite expensive for smaller populations as the research cost will be higher per animal basis (such as the water buffalo since a substantial percentage of this animal are reared by small holders), the genetic gains over time is substantial and will positively elevate the incomes of small holders.. To maximise genetic gains of the animal, a higher resolution SNP panel that represents polymorphisms of water buffalo is required.

Conservation and biodiversity

While the advantage of selective breeding is to improve the production efficiency of an animal, it also contributes, however, to homogeneity of the population because of bull selections and artificial insemination. It might also introduce non-native genetics to a native population, thus losing the purity of conservation breeds. It is essential to investigate the genetic structures of the water buffalo populations before the implementation of wide-scale genetic improvement to avoid mixing up the genetics of a native and imported animals/clusters.

Climate change and food security

The water buffalo is known as a “hardy animal” for its ability to thrive in poor pastures and tropical areas due to their wallowing behavior. They convert low-quality roughages into high quality milk and meat because of its specialised traits such as large rumen capacity and unique microflora. Moreover, they also have higher resistance to foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and brucellosis. Some farmers are raising water buffalo as an alternative to cattle because of their specialised traits in addition to their high milk fat and total solids content.

Given the water buffalo are well adapted to hot and humid climates, they will serve as an important source of milk and meat as the global temperature increases in many parts of the globe.