A Review on Strategies for Sustainable Buffalo Milk Production in Egypt

Abstract

The review was made to give an account on current milk production, challenges and strategies for sustainable buffalo milk production in Egypt. Buffalo is a multipurpose and economically important animal especially for developing countries. In Egypt, buffalo represents 47 % of the total population compared to cattle. And buffalo's milk is preferred by the Egyptian consumer due to its high fat content, color and flavor. This indicates that Egypt have great opportunity to produce buffalo milk because of its high consumer preference and demand. However, milk yield per dairy buffalo is still low which is 4-10 kg. Furthermore, despite the much higher population of buffaloes in Egypt, the productive and reproductive performance is lower compare to Italy which has a smaller buffalo population. This indicates that the dairy buffaloes are not fully utilized in Egypt. Therefore, there is a need to improve the current production potential through capacity building, appropriate feeding strategies, health care, appropriate milking routine, use of milk storage and processing facilities and creating strong market linkage with dairy companies. Furthermore, proper recording of individual buffalo cow milk yield, selection based on pedigree information, accurate estrus detection and nucleus herd breeding strategies will bring sustainable improvement for efficient utilization of buffaloes in Egypt.

Keywords; Strategies, Sustainable, Buffalo Milk