The Italian river buffalo was characterized by an extensive period of
isolation, which did not allow crossbreeding. This has brought to a morpho-functional
differentiation of the Mediterranean type, whose population has increased 19 fold in
Italy in the past fifty years. This increase is mainly due to the rising interest in the
productive characteristics of this rustic animal; actually bred mainly as dairy purpose
animal. Marker assisted selection (MAS) might be a promising choice for planning
appropriate breeding schemes for Italian river buffaloes. In this respect, the genetic
markers significantly associated to milk yield traits may give the right information for
the identification of animals with high breeding value. The literature associated with
different aspects of the genetic progress in buffalo is abundant, and this chapter is a
review of the molecular bases for the improvement of the quali-quantitative
characteristics of the Italian dairy buffaloes occurred during the last decade.
Keywords: Casein cluster, Genetic improvement of dairy traits, Milk yield, Molecular selection, River buffalo
