Sir: Buffalo (Bubalusbubalis) are domestic animals of great socio-economic importance. They are mainly used in developing countries for the production of meat and milk. They are also used as beasts of burden especially in rice crops, which are a staple food of Asian people. The buffalo is a very suitable livestock animal for the production of dairy as it produces about 61 percent of the total milk produced in Pakistan. According to estimates, there are approximately 35.6 million buffalos in Pakistan, whereas the world population of buffalo is estimated to be 199 million. Our country is home to the five best buffalo breeds; Nili-Ravi, Nili, Ravi, Azi Kheli and Kundhi. The lactation yield of Nili-Ravi buffalo is associated well with others as this buffalo is capable of producing more milk than any other breed in the world. Buffalo’s milk has a higher fat concentration (more than 6.5 percent) as well as solids concentration (10.5 percent) which is the main reason that makes them more popular among dairy farmers than other cattle. Animal breeding is an important tool when it comes to increasing in productivity and improving the quality of dairy products. Through the identification of animals with superior breeding values and adapted to environmental conditions farmers can produce more milk with the same amount of input. In this regard, bull selection is more important in comparison to female selection due to the buffalo’s status as ‘half herd’. A superior buffalo bull has the capability to produce many thousand offspring in his lifespan in comparison to a female which usually produces five to six calves. To date, the best procedure for bull selection was what is referred to as Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) which utilizes digital technology. This evaluating method has its own merits and demerits but due to a degree of presence of non-authenticated data, its reliability has been questioned by some. Identification of genes is responsible for phenotypic variation in traits of economic importance and allows the development of methods for selecting superior genotypes. Therefore, genomic selection confers benefits to animal breeding due to direct use of DNA information in the selection process which increases the genetic gain compared to traditional selection based only on phenotype. The publication of the human genome sequence in 2001 was a major step forward in the knowledge necessary to understand the variations between individuals. For farmed species, genomic sequence information will facilitate the selection of animals optimized to live, and be productive, in these particular environments. Superior genetic profiles can be selected to reproduce buffalos efficiently with genetic resources in better form so that consumers and farmers can benefit equally. The availability of the cattle genome sequence has allowed the breeding industry to take the first steps towards predicting phenotypes from genotypes by estimating a “Genomic Estimated Breeding Value” (GEBV) for bulls using genome-wide DNA markers. The sequencing of the buffalo genome and creation of a panel of DNA markers has created the opportunity to apply molecular selection approaches for this species. The genomes of several buffalos of different breeds were sequenced and aligned with the bovine genome, which facilitated the identification of millions of sequence variants in the buffalo genomes. The use of SNP markers (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) are recent, however it becomes attractive for traits measured on one sex and high cost of measurement, such as the production of milk and its constituents. The combined effect of all of these genetic factors on milk yield as economic values are yet to be unveiled. Pakistan is still contributing in the field of milk production based on novel genetics tools to find the combined effects of variants which are correlated with milk quality and yield controlling genes. Advances in high-throughput sequencing technology have facilitated rapid and cost-efficient generation of gigabases of data by laboratories. This has led to new approaches for simultaneous discovery and genotyping of dense genetic markers on a scale that represents a steep change from what used to be the standard prior to the existence of this technology. One such approach is genotyping by sequencing(GBS) which is a genome complexity reduction technique that sequences at depth flanking regions of restriction enzyme division sites followed by multiplex sequencing to produce high quality polymorphism data at relatively low cost per sample. In Pakistan, first time bull selection will be proceeding in exploiting the GBS approach. Thus our study aims to find the mutual effect of milk production associated genes on its yield and quality by GBS analysis. This will help to identify superior bulls that ultimately enhance milk production in Pakistan. It is expected that such selection will be more reliable and helpful in the promoting the dairy industry when the semen of such superior bulls is distributed to Government and private breeders. SAHER ISLAM & WASIM SHEHZAD Vie E-mail Published in Daily Times, October 22nd 2017.