Bioscience Methods 2025, Vol.16, No.6, 308-316 http://bioscipublisher.com/index.php/bm 314 6.3 Establishment of data recording and reproductive performance evaluation systems There is another issue that is often overlooked but very important: record-keeping. Assisted reproductive technology emphasizes efficiency and comparison, but without a clear data system, nothing can be evaluated. When does it come into heat? Which plan was used? How is the conception going? Does it have any impact on animal health? All of these have to be written down and calculated. The problem is that in many places, a standardized record-keeping method for water buffalo farming has not yet been established. A lot of data is based on experience or not recorded at all. This makes it very difficult to review the technical effects and to start optimizing the plans. To truly make ART a sustainable means of production, establishing digital systems and national databases is a lesson that must be made up sooner or later (Nava-Trujillo et al., 2020). 7 Conclusions and Future Perspectives The changes in the water buffalo industry over the years have not been entirely sustained by traditional breeding. Assisted reproductive technologies (ART) such as timed artificial insemination (FTAI), egg retrieval (OPU), in vitro embryo transfer (IVEP), and embryo transfer (ET) have indeed made reproduction more "controllable". Especially for those situations where estrus is not obvious, seasonal influences are significant, or the natural conception rate is always low, ART offers many opportunities for solutions. Nowadays, not only have the levels of milk and meat production improved, but even gender can be "arranged" in advance. The speed of the spread of high-quality genes has also increased by more than a little compared to the past. Not to mention, measures such as gene banks and cryopreservation are gradually building up the safety net for the entire variety resources. But then again, not all problems have been solved. The ovarian structure of water buffaloes is rather unique, which has also led to a persistent low efficiency in superovulation and embryo recovery. Methods like multiple ovulation - embryo transfer (MOET) are still not very realistic to be widely adopted. And don't forget, developing these technologies requires a lot of money, as well as technical personnel and equipment - for some small-scale farmers, the threshold alone is quite high. Not to mention, details such as the performance of different donors, breeding bulls, venue conditions, and feeding management will also directly affect the results. Stability is not always something that can be achieved at will. In addition, more "cutting-edge" tools such as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) or genomic selection are still in their infancy in most places. To truly put them into use, more experiments and cooperation are still needed. As for the next direction, many people have already begun to try to combine genomic selection with ART for use. After all, finding promising and good seed sources as early as possible is the key to precision breeding. The collection of donor sperm before puberty, gender sorting, and the combination with automated reproductive systems, although they sound a bit futuristic, have gradually entered the practical stage. In the future, if efforts can be made in expanding the coverage of embryo transfer, developing automation, and using big data to manage reproductive effects, the overall efficiency will be greatly enhanced. Of course, this is not something that can be accomplished by a single laboratory or farm. Especially in regions like Southeast Asia, research cooperation networks, technology sharing and regional collaboration will be the key links to truly put these technologies into use. Acknowledgments I thank Mr B. Xu from the Institute of Life Science of Jiyang College of Zhejiang A&F University for his reading and revising suggestion. Conflict of Interest Disclosure The author affirms that this research was conducted without any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. References Abulaiti A., El-Qaliouby H., Bahgy H., Naseer Z., Ahmed Z., Hua G., and Yang L., 2021, GPGMH a new fixed timed-AI synchronization regimen for swamp and river crossbred buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8: 646247. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.646247
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