**3. Regional dairy buffalo breeds**

Of the total world milk production, buffalo milk is the second most important source, after cow's milk. Most developed countries face an overproduction of cow's milk, which is why some of them impose quantitative restrictions and qualitative requirements. Under these conditions, an important alternative source of milk is that obtained from buffaloes. World milk production has doubled in recent decades, and it is noteworthy that 12% of it is provided by buffaloes. India and Pakistan produce about 60 and 30% of total buffalo milk production respectively. Buffalo milk contributes to about 55 and 75% of total local production in India and Pakistan, respectively. In the NWF Province (NWFP) of Pakistan and elsewhere in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, buffalo farming is practiced on non-scientific lines. The major causes associated with the under-developed buffalo farms in Pakistan have been identified as:

i. calf losses, irregular breeding, imbalanced feeding

ii.ungainly loans and

iii. a hostile marketing system.

These three causes at commercial buffalo herds lead to annual losses to the tune of US\$ 17.38 [9].

Buffalo milk products are obtained by specific processes in countries in the Caucasus, Asia, where the consumption of sour milk, butter and yogurt is very popular.

In Italy, the buffalo milk industry is highly developed due to the production of the well-known mozzarella cheese. Buffalo milk and dairy products have become very popular in many European countries, and buffalo milk production is now prevalent in countries that previously had no history of this production such as Germany, Ireland, the United Kingdom and even the United States.

Buffaloes adapt easily to environmental conditions, have low requirements for feeding and housing conditions, do not require special care for pathogens, and are resistant to disease. They are rustic animals and suitable for organic farming.

*Geographical area*. European buffalo breeds belong to the Mediterranean type and are widespread in countries such as Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey where specific (local) breeds are raised—Mediterranean breed (Italian, Romanian, Bulgarian, etc.). Mediterranean buffaloes come from *Bubalus bubalus;* in *Italy,* they were introduced by the Crusaders at the beginning of the thirteenth century. Improving production capacity was achieved in the twentieth century in the direction of milk production [10].

The Bulgarian Murrah breed comes from the local Mediterranean buffalo, which was crossed with the Murrah breed, imported from India. The formation of the breed by crossing practiced between the local buffaloes and the Murrah breed began in 1962. Thus, in 1962, imports of the Indian Murrah breed were made, which continued until 1975 [10–12].

The Romanian buffalo breed was approved in 1987 [1, 13], and had an increase during the period until 1990 (228,000 heads), after which the number decreased (10 times). Regarding the appearance of buffaloes on the territory of today's Romania, the following are the existing hypotheses (**Figure 4**):


**Figure 4.** *Romanian buffalo breed from Romania.*


#### **Table 4.**

*The productive characteristics of the Buffalo breeds [2, 13].*

*Breeds characterization.* The buffalo breed in Italy has superior performance to the breeds in Romania and Bulgaria, which proves the effort made by Italian farmers in modernizing breeding technologies and improving the breed. (**Table 4**).

Compared to the average milk production of 1800–2200 kg and a fat content of 7–9% (**Table 4**) in Bulgaria, Italy and Romania, there are many herds with average productions of over 2000 kg, there are animals with productions of over 3000–4000 kg of milk, with an average fat content of up to 11%, aspects, which indicates the special genetic potential and the possibilities for future improvement of these populations [14–17].
