In this study, the status of water buffalo breeding in each geographical region in Turkey was examined, and the activities of enterprises were analysed from technical and economic perspectives. Four regions and the cities in these regions where buffalo breeding was concentrated in Turkey were chosen by Purposive Sampling Method, considering the number of water buffaloes, milk production and their share in the buffalo population and buffalo milk production in Turkey. A total of 462 sample enterprises were chosen from these cities by Stratified Random Sampling Method. The research data were collected through the questionnaires administered in face-to-face interviews with the producers. The data collected reflect the buffalo production in Turkey in 2014. The study examined socio-economic structures of the enterprises, revealing their capital structures and annual economic activities. The Marmara region ranked first in the time spent in buffalo breeding (26.62 years). Gross profit income was positive in four regions. Absolute profit and relative profit indicators were negative for farms in the Black Sea region and favourable for farms in other regions. For the development and promotion of buffalo breeding, the breeders should be further educated about better breeding practices, small enterprises should be modernized and expand their operations, efforts for the betterment of breeding practices should be intensified, existing wetlands should be protected and enhanced, the production costs (feed cost etc.) should be reduced, state subsidies should be granted to real producers, the public should be educated about the high nutritional value of water buffalo meat and milk through promotional campaigns, and buffalo producers should be better organized in producer unions.

This research examined the effects of storage temperature and storage time on the somatic cell count (SCC) of milk from Anatolian buffaloes, which was measured with the DeLaval cell counter (DCC). Storage temperature and time are among the different factors that potentially affect the SCC of Anatolian buffalo milk. In this context, 20 milk samples were collected from Anatolian Buffaloes and analyzed. The milk samples were divided into two groups according to their measured level of SCC. These two groups were the low score (LT= 3.16 cell/ml) group and the high score (GT 3.16 cell/ml) group. The mean logSCC values of the low score and the high score groups were determined as 2.27+-0.045 and 4.06+-0.019 cells/ml, respectively. In this research, the effects of storage temperature (4 deg C, 21 deg C) and storage time (fresh milk, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 24 h) on logSCC were determined to be statistically significant (P LT 0.01). Thus, increases in storage temperature and storage time were associated with an increase in the logSCC of the milk samples. In this study, the effects of storage temperature (4 deg C, 21 deg C) and storage time (fresh milk, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 24 hours) on logSCC were determined to be statistically significant (P LT 0.01). Thus, increases in storage temperature and storage time were associated with an increase in the logSCC of the milk samples.

This study was conducted to determine feeding regimes and some production parameters of Anatolia buffaloes in the Azikheli Delta which one of the Turkey's biggest and most important wetland ecosystem. A total of 59 dairy farms, whose owners were members of the Samsun Provincial Buffalo Breeders Union, were selected for the survey. According to results of the survey, 55.9 percent of the buffalo breeders had above 20 buffaloes. The majority of the farmers produced their own roughage. Most respondents reported that calves were weaned at 5 months of age or older. The investigation revealed that the buffalo feeding system depended on grazing from April to November (summer feeding). During winter feeding, dry forage+silage were used together on the majority of the farms (96.6 percent). All respondents didn’t feed concentrates to their heifers and pregnant buffaloes in the last trimester were fed a special regime by some farmers (16.9 percent). The buffaloes in early lactation were provided a supplementary concentrate mixture by 78 percent of farmers. None of the producers used balanced rations for their animals. Daily milk yield, 69.5 percent of farms, were 3 to 5 L. Mean age at first calving were 31 to 36 months. The survey results showed that the feeding regimes for Anatolian buffaloes adopted by the farmers are deficient and this is probably causing reduced milk yields and reproductive performance. Consequently, in order to improvement milk yield and reproduction potential, it is suggested that buffalo feeding regime should be matched to nutrient requirements and giving information to farmers about feeding techniques.

This study aimed to determine the lactoferrin concentration from healthy and subclinical mastitic buffaloes. Lactoferrin levels were determined in a total of 475 mammary quarter milk samples, 391 of which were healthy and 84 suffering from subclinical mastitis. The mean milk lactoferrin level in logarithmic form for healthy and subclinical mastitic milk samples was 1.34+-0.27 and 1.85+-0.47, respectively. A significant difference (p LT 0.001) was determined between the two groups in terms of the lactoferrin levels. The milk lactoferrin levels in healthy buffaloes were significantly higher in the middle and late periods of lactation than the peak period (p LT 0.05). The mean milk lactoferrin levels in subclinical mastitic buffaloes infected with S. aureus or S. agalactiae were significantly higher than those from in buffaloes infected with Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci (CNS) or Candida spp. (p LT 0.05). An increase in milk lactoferrin levels was observed in parallel with the increase in somatic cell scores. In conclusion, milk lactoferrin levels in buffaloes were found to increase with the lactation stage, the presence of bacterial infection and the somatic cell count. This is the first study to determine the relationship between lactoferrin concentrations and bacterial infection in milk obtained from mammary quarters with subclinical mastitis in Anatolian buffaloes.

The present study was undertaken (1) to characterize the FA composition particularly on the concentration of conjugated linoleic acid (2) to investigate of physicochemical properties of Anatolian water buffalo milk, and from six different provinces in Turkey. The fat amount in water buffalo milk samples were in the range of 5.97+-0.30 percent to 9.19+-0.57 percent and the mean fat was 6.96+-0.25 percent. The main individual FA in water buffalo milk were in the order 16:0, 18:1 cis-9, 14:0, and 18:0. The CLA, bovinic acid (cis-9, trans-11), represented 1.09+-0.06 in water buffalo milk. Saturated fatty acids (SFA) were the potent fraction in water buffalo milk fat (70.63+-0.7), MUFA and PUFA were 29.37+-0.7 and 0.2+-0.03, respectively. The data exhibit statistically differences (P LT= 0.05) in the proportions of individual FA were detected among different provinces in Turkey. Anatolian water buffalos were poor in terms polyunsaturated FA compared to other water buffalos from different countries. Therefore, these results may provide useful information about the nutrient composition of buffalo milk and further studies are warranted to improve the technological and nutritional characteristics of Anatolian buffalo milk.