The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) is developing heat-tolerant water buffaloes that can sustain milk production and reproductive performance amid the threat of El Niño-driven droughts on livestock.
According to PCC, extreme heat could reduce livestock’s productivity, disrupt reproduction, and increase susceptibility to disease and mortality.
With this, the agency’s National Institute for Animal Sciences (NIAS) is implementing a project titled ‘Development of Climate-Smart Interventions to Enhance Water Buffalo Production in Heat-Stressed Conditions in the Philippines,’ which is in its second phase.
Funded by the Department of Agriculture’s Biotechnology Program (DA-Biotech), the project aims to identify water buffaloes with natural heat tolerance and develop reproductive interventions to sustain their productivity during hot weather.
The PCC said the research builds on its Genetic Improvement Program (GIP), which aims to enhance the genetic potential and overall productivity of water buffaloes.
‘Researchers are now incorporating thermotolerance, or the ability to withstand high temperatures, as an additional trait in selecting breeding animals.’
The approach would help identify male and female buffaloes with heat-tolerant traits that could eventually produce offspring capable of maintaining their physiological stability and productivity under heat-stressed conditions, the PCC explained.
‘The team found that buffaloes identified as thermotolerant were able to maintain relatively stable milk production, with smaller declines in milk yield during periods of high temperatures,’ the agency said.
‘These findings highlight the potential of incorporating thermotolerance into the agency’s genetic improvement efforts to develop buffaloes that are both productive and more resilient to extreme heat.’
Beyond genetic selection, the PCC said the project also wants to improve buffalo reproduction during the summer months, when high temperatures can adversely affect conception rates.
It added that researchers developed an enhanced reproductive intervention called the ‘summer protocol for reproduction,’ which builds on the agency’s existing timed artificial insemination (AI) technology.
The modified protocol introduces an additional treatment intended to improve the effectiveness of timed AI during high temperatures, according to PCC.
Through the integration of genetic improvement and enhanced reproductive technologies, the agency said it aims to develop ‘practical, science-based interventions’ that would help buffalo farmers sustain production despite changing climatic conditions.