Phylogeography and domestication of Indian river buffalo

Abstract

Present day river buffalo is the result of complex domestication processes involving more than one maternal lineage and a significant maternal gene flow from the wild populations after the initial domestication events. Our data are consistent with the available archaeological information in supporting the proposition that the river buffalo was likely to be domesticated in the Western region of the Indian subcontinent, specifically the present day breeding tracts of the Mehsana, Surati and Pandharpuri breeds.