The largest chromosome in the river buffalo karyotype, BBU1, is a submetacentric chromosome with reported homology between BBU1q and bovine chromosome 1 and between BBU1p and BTA27. We present the first radiation hybrid map of this chromosome containing 69 cattle derived markers including 48 coding genes, 17 microsatellites and four ESTs distributed in two linkage groups spanning a total length...

The domestic water buffalo is native to the Asian continent but through historical migrations and recent importations, nowadays has a worldwide distribution. The two types of water buffalo, i.e., river and swamp, display distinct morphological and behavioral traits, different karyotypes and also have different purposes and geographical distributions. River buffaloes from Pakistan, Iran, Turkey,...

The world buffalo population is about 168 million, and it is still growing, in India, China, Brazil, and Italy. In these countries, buffalo genetic breeding programs have been performed for many decades. The occurrence of congenital malformations has caused a slowing of the genetic progress and economic loss for the breeders, due to the death of animals, or damage to their reproductive ability ...

The karyotype of the tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis, 2n = 46) was investigated by RBG-banding technique and compared with those of the river and the swamp cytotypes of domestic water buffalo (B. bubalis). The tamaraw karyotype consisted of 6 submetacentric and 16 acrocentric autosome pairs (NAA = 56), and X and Y chromosomes. The RBG-banded karyotype of the three taxa had a high degree of homolog...

The complete coding region sequence of the SRY gene in Chinese swamp buffalo was determined by PCR product sequencing. Comparison of swamp and river buffalo SRY gene sequences revealed a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, C/G) at the 202 bp site of the coding region. Further, a total of 124 male domestic buffaloes were genotyped at this SNP site using the PCR-SSCP method, and it was found tha...

The Buffalo River and its dams are major surface water sources used for fresh produce irrigation, raw water abstraction and recreation in parts of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa. Over a 12-month period (August 2010 to July 2011), we assessed the bacteriological qualities of water from the river and 3 source water dams along its course. Faecal indicator bacteria (FIB), including total...

Cattle breeds have a striking effect on milk, including milk composition and technological characteristics. This study aims to compare milk composition, acidification activity, viscosity, milk dispersion system stability and casein molecular weight among three buffalo breeds in China. The technological characteristics of milk produced by three cattle breeds of river buffalo (Murrah), crossbreed...

The Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was implemented to determine annual sediment yields and critical source areas of erosion for the Buffalo River Watershed. Model calibrations were performed by comparing simulated streamflow discharge and sediment concentrations against measured values. Monte-Carlo simulations were performed to identify the most sensitive parameters and the “best-fit” parame...

Water buffalo is a globally important species for agriculture and local economies. A de novo assembled, well-annotated reference sequence for the water buffalo is an important prerequisite for studying the biology of this species, and is necessary to manage genetic diversity and to use modern breeding and genomic selection techniques. However, no such genome assembly has been previously reporte...

Chinese native buffaloes have faced the threat of extinction, along with an increase in crossbreeding with domesticated river buffaloes; consequently, conservation of local buffalo genetic resources has become a priority. A Chinese native breed, Jianghan, is often crossed intentionally and unintentionally with imported breeds from India and Pakistan, Murrah, and Nili-Ravi. A total of 128 b...