Mixed pastures and biological efficiency in buffalo production systems: determinants for a sustainable livestock

Livestock production faces important challenges in addressing the integral concept of sustainability. The buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is recognized for its high productivity standards and its advancement urgently demands the promotion of efficient, environmentally friendly, economically viable and socially acceptable pasture-based systems. The analysis of biological systems is characterized by the use of basic calculations during the production process that define the complex dynamics of natural capital, which is directly managed by human activities with a simplification and selection of biodiversity to support ecosystem function while generating products of agri-food interest. In order to consolidate a conceptual approach to sustainable grazing of B. bubalis, 674 specialized texts derived from refereed and indexed scientific journals (83.23%), books or book chapters (14.84%), proceedings of scientific events (0.74%) and other dissemination instruments such as official bulletins and brief notes from institutional pages (1.19%), written in English (86.05%), Spanish (12.02%), Portuguese (1.34%) or other languages (0.59%), were analyzed. By bringing together the conclusive comments of each scientific instrument consulted, the current philosophy of sustainable development to establish sustainable livestock systems requires in particular: a) designing agroecosystems that favor the increase of biodiversity; b) monitoring key indicators of biological efficiency and including the evaluation of feasibility to implement corrective measures; and c) taking maximum advantage of highly biodiverse or mixed pastures under technical control of grazing to minimize the emission of pollutant gases. Well-managed pastures have been promoted as a key strategy to recover in a profitable way the sustainable balance of the agroecosystem, taking into account that grazing has a strong influence on grass composition and, therefore, pasture quality; many researchers consider B. bubalis herds as living tools for the remediation of pastures degraded by weed infestation thanks to their resistance and low selectivity that allows modulating grazing areas for remediation. If these recommendations are met, production with B. bubalis would offer beneficial ecosystem services that would make the buffalo system a safer, more sustainable and resilient supplier of animal protein, since farms that operate under biological diversification criteria are more resistant to climate change, improve soil health, increase animal productivity and make efficient use of nutrients; however, each system is unique and its dynamism among components varies according to the yield goal sought by the producer according to local conditions.