The water buffalo: specialized studies; Species, types and breeds; Observations on skin colour and hair patterns; Genetics; Blood groups and protein polymorphisms; Environmental physiology; Reproduction; Observations on the physiology of reproduction; Nutrition; Aspects of disease; Parasites and parasitic diseases; Management, conservation and use; The working buffalo; Milk and milk production; Meat and meat production; The water buffalo: world distribution and potential; The buffaloes of Oceania; Australia; Guam and New Guinea; The buffaloes of Asia; Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey; The buffaloes of the far east; Bangladesh, Brunei, Burma, Hong Kong; India; Indonesia, Khmer Republic; Laos, Malaysia (West Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak), Nepal, Okinawa; Pakistan; Philippines; Portuguese Timor, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Viet-Nam; The buffaloes of the Near East; Arab Republic of Egypt; The water buffalo in Africa; Madagascar, Mozambique and former Portuguese African territories, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zaire and the Congo; The buffaloes of Latin America; Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago; Venezuela; The buffaloes of Europe; Albania; Bulgaria; Greece and Hungary; Romania and Yugoslavia.

This handbook aims at focusing on the husbandry of the common water buffalo, (Bubalis bubalis). The book covers a broad range of topics such as the buffalo’s genetic evolution, cytogenetics, subspecies, breed diversification, feeding and metabolic specificity, adaptable response to environmental stress factors, welfare, dairy requirements and production, reproduction and embryo technologies, cryopreservation, sperm cell sexing, somatic cell cloning and transgenesis. Chapters presented and reviewed in this book have been by contributed by renowned scientists that have devoted years of research to the understanding of this species, and highlight the most recent advances in basic and applied science to unveil the understanding of physiological facets intrinsic to this animal species. The depth of the selected topics makes this book especially suited for readers of all academic levels of study. Researchers, students and professionals will find this book a useful guide to breeding and farming the water buffalo.