Department of Animal Production, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, El-Gamma street, Giza, 12613, Egypt.
General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research, Damascus, Syria.
Trop Anim Health Prod. 2022 Aug 15;54(5):266. doi: 10.1007/s11250-022-03247-y.
Buffalo population has dramatically increased during the last two decades, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. Although buffalo are important milk and meat-producing animal, still practices of buffalo farming and welfare aspects are not well established. Housing system and stocking density are significant factors that affect the welfare and production of animals; however, no space allowance standards have been demonstrated for buffalo at different ages. This review article presents the following: (1) an overview of buffalo subtypes and their geographical distribution of buffalo populations and their production; (2) the effect of housing systems and space allowance on the social behavior and welfare indices; (3) the effects of space allowance on milk production and growth performance of buffalo; and (4) the relationship between space allowance and reproductive performance. Although the limited data in this area of research, it can be driven that a larger space allowance with access to a pool, especially during the hot season, maintains buffalo production at optimal levels. Moreover, optimal floor space improves the welfare and social indices of buffalo; however, there are discrepancies in aggressive and agonistic behavior results. Surprisingly, the reproductive performance of buffalo was not affected by space allowance. Therefore, further research is needed to identify the impact of the housing aspects, including space allowance and enrichment tools. on the productive performance, and welfare indices of buffalo. This would assist in implementing welfare-economic standards for buffalo production and reveal the potentiality of this eco-friendly animal.
在过去的二十年中，水牛种群数量急剧增加，尤其是在热带和亚热带地区。尽管水牛是重要的产奶和产肉动物，但水牛养殖实践和福利方面的情况仍未得到很好的建立。饲养系统和饲养密度是影响动物福利和生产的重要因素；然而，不同年龄的水牛没有展示出空间分配标准。本文综述了以下内容：（1）水牛亚种及其地理分布和生产性能概述；（2）饲养系统和空间分配对社会行为和福利指数的影响；（3）空间分配对水牛产奶量和生长性能的影响；（4）空间分配与繁殖性能的关系。尽管该研究领域的数据有限，但可以得出结论，在炎热季节，特别是在炎热季节，提供一个水池的更大空间分配可以维持水牛的最佳生产水平。此外，最佳的占地面积可以提高水牛的福利和社会指数；然而，在攻击和竞争行为结果方面存在差异。令人惊讶的是，水牛的繁殖性能不受空间分配的影响。因此，需要进一步研究来确定饲养方面，包括空间分配和丰富工具，对水牛生产性能和福利指数的影响。这将有助于为水牛生产实施福利-经济标准，并揭示这种环保动物的潜力。
