peer reviewed

Buffaloes have been traditionally grouped, together with cattle and other oxen, in the Bovinae, a sub-family of the family Bovidae. The author contends that only the species in the genera Bos, Bibos, Poephagus and Bison--all of whom 2 have diploid cells with 2n=60 chromosomes (and, therefore, are all more or less easily hybridizable with one another)--should be included in the said sub-family. On the other hand, none of the species in the so-called "buffaline" genera, Syncerus, Bubalus and Anoa can be hybridized with any of the above, because their own diploid chromosome numbers are quite smaller and range depending on the species, form 2n=54 down 2n=48. For this important reason, the author proposes to place all buffaloes --wild and domestic-- in a separate and new sub-family to be named Bubalinae (see Chart). Furthermore, the so-called "river" and "swamp" types of water buffalo, the first one with 2n=50 and the other with 2n=48 chromosomes, ought to be recognized as valid Linnaean subspecies of Bubalus bubalis, to be respectively named henceforth B. b. fluviatilis and B. b. limneticus

The swamp buffalo is sometimes completely white, i.e., with white hair and pink skin. This condition is rarely reported in river buffalo. This is not true albinism since the pigment is still present in iris, horns, hoofs and bucal mucosa. They are widely referred to as albinoid' (Kaleff, 1932). In the present study two cases of albinoid buffaloes of the Paralakhemundi buffalo breed in India are reported (Fig.1). The occurrence of pink skin is not uncommon but occurrence of albinoids is very rare in the Paralakhemundi buffalo breed. The incidence of albinoids varies in different countries. Rifle (1962) reported 10 percent albinoid buffaloes in Thailand, Singletan and Santos (1964) showed less than 1 percent incidence in the Philippines, in Indonesia albinoidism is common in Bali and incidence may be up to 70 percent. (Fischer, 1958). Albinoids unknown in Egypt, Italy, Sri Lanka and Turkey.

Infestation by leeches (Hirudinia sp.) was observed in Murrah buffaloes of Song Be, Vietnam, mostly during the humid-hot season. Percentage incidence of attachment was about 31.14, 22.75, 15.75, 10.78, 7.19, 5.39, 4.19 and 2.99 in the region of udder and teats, inguinal region, vulva and vagina, nasal cavity, lips and chin, base of the ears, naval region and neck and brisket, respectively. After blood sucking for different periods, mean body weight of leeches was 338.12, 291.85, 245.51, 204.17, 139.53, 118.82, 103.80 and 98.73 g in the corresponding order of attachments. The body weight of partly and fully fed leeches ranged from lowest 12 g detached from neck and brisket region to highest 517 g fallen after full feeding from the udder and teats.

Study was undertaken to examine lead contents in different feeds and drinking water offered to buffaloes as well as those of buffalo blood and milk during two different seasons (winter and summer) in the area of Dakahlia, Egypt. The study revealed that the feedstuffs and drinking water contained less than the tolerance lead level, although the lead contents of the samples obtained in winter were higher than those of summer. The levels of lead in the blood and milk of buffaloes were within the normal range. However, winter values were higher than summer values. The lead contents of blood of veal calves were lower than those of buffalo bulls

Total of nine swamp buffalo embryos at the stages of two-cell embryo, 16-cell embryo, compacted morula, blastocyst and hatched blastocyst were frozen to -196 deg. Celsius by manual and automatic methods. The embryos were cooled slowly from room temperature to -7 deg. Celsius at the rate of 1.0 deg. Celsius/min from -7 deg. Celsius to -15 deg. Celsius or -30 deg. Celsius at the rate 0.3 deg. Celsius/min before plunging into liquid nitrogen. The post-thawed morphology showed undamaged embryos (grade A) could be obtained after both manual and automatic freezing, and also partially damaged (grade B) and totally damaged embryos (grade C). The percentage of each group was 22.2 % (2/9), and 55.6 % (5/9), respectively. This was the first report on cryopreservation of swamp buffalo embryos. Further studies on biabiliity after transfer should follow

Six Murrah bulls of N.D.R.I. progeny testing program set V were ranked on the basis of first lactation performance of their daughters. Bull No. 1039 ranked first while animal No.393 ranked second. The index value of the top-ranking bull was 15.3 % above the herd average and this bull was recommated in the herd for a period of two producing the future young sires

Study was undertaken to investigate the fertility of frozen semen from three Nili-Ravi buffalo bulls using three different extenders. Semen was extended in milk-yolk-glycerol, lactose-yolk-glycerol and fructose-lactose-yolk-glycerol, kept in 0.5 ml straws and frozen in liquid nitrogen. Only normal cyclic buffaloes were inseminated with the post-thaw semen. Fertility was based on pregnancy test through rectal palpation at 45 to 50 days post insemination. Milk-yolk-glycerol extender showed the best fertility result (49.82 percent) among all the extenders (45.68 percent for lactose-yolk-glycerol and 39.01 % for fructose-lactose-yolk-glycerol)