Headway in Reproductive Biotechniques for Genetic Improvement of Buffaloes

Buffaloes are one of the major contributors in refining the rural economy, particularly in South and South-East Asia countries. There are about 177.5 million buffaloes in the world and more than 96 % of which are found in Asia. Though genetic improvement of this animal resource is imperative for milk and meat, it is limited by inherent biological attributes such as, long generation interval, long inter-calving period, longer age at sexual maturity, delay in puberty, distinct seasonal reproductive pattern, silent estrous, repeat breeding and eventually low reproductive rates. However, advancement in reproductive bio-techniques offers greater prospects to achieve the desired genetic improvement in buffaloes. Artificial insemination (AI) using frozen semen is well established and manipulation of ovarian function for estrus synchronization is used in large farms commonly. Super ovulation to produce embryos in vivo yielded average transferable embryos, 1.8-2.1 per collection. With advancement, embryo production using ovum pick-up (OPU) in combination with in vitro maturation (IVM) and fertilization (IVF) has been tried to a limited extent, but it is impending to be an alternative to earlier one. Recently advanced "Hand guided Cloning Technique", a landmark technique developed at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal could go a long way for faster multiplication of superior milch buffaloes in India.