Ovarian Follicle Population and Follicle Size in Anatolian Water Buffaloes

Buffaloes are well known domestic animals in Asia, Mediterranean and Latin American countries of the world for different breeding purposes such as milk, meat, draught and capital [23]. The buffalo has been regarded as poor reproductive efficiency and characterized by low conception rates [6, 22, 23]. Seasonality of buffalo breeding results in a milk supply that exceeds demand in summer and autumn and diminishes significantly in winter and spring [1]. Anatolian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a native breed and is commercially very important for the milk-cream industry in Turkey. It has been reported that calving and estrous activity occurs in a seasonal pattern in Anatolian buffaloes [1, 28]. However, poor reproductive management of dairy buffalo has resulted in various reproductive problems including unknown reproductive disorders causing infertility and thus economic losses in the milk industry [29]. The population of Anatolian water buffalo was more than 1 million head in the early 1980s, by 2010, there were less than 100,000 [30]. According to an international source, Turkey’s buffalo population fell from 1,040,000 head in 1980 to 84,726 head in 2011 [12]. The reduction in the buffalo population over the 30-year period was thus 91.9%. Recently, government support continuously grows to improve commercial buffalo breeding in Turkey.