The use of green feed for livestock breeding is an important strategy to encounter both the incre... more The use of green feed for livestock breeding is an important strategy to encounter both the increasing demand for animal derived products and the perceptions of the consumers regarding animal welfare and sustainability. The aim of this study was to compare different feeding strategies in lactating water buffaloes by using a metabolomic approach. The study was carried out on 32 milking buffaloes that were randomly divided into two groups for a total period of 90 days (3 sampling times). DD Group (dry diet) received a standard total mixed ratio (TMR) characterized by dry forages and concentrates; ZG Group (zero grazing) fed an isoenergetic and isoproteic diet obtained using 30% of sorghum as green forage. Samples of milk and rumen fluid were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) techniques. Data analyses revealed the presence of several differentially accumulated metabolites and among these, ten compounds were putatively identified in milk samples (i.e. l-carnitine, acetylcarnitine, propionylcarnitine, butyrylcarnitine, 2-methylbutyroylcarnitine, 2-hexenoylcarnitine, hexanoylcarnitine, glycerophosphocholine, δ-valerobetaine and γ-butyrobetaine) and four in rumen fluid (3-(2-hydroxyphenyl) propanoate, Indole-3-acrylic acid, oleamide (cis-9,10-octadecenoamide) and 20-carboxy-leukotriene B4). The modulation of these molecules in buffalo milk is significantly related to the green/dry based feeding and some the natural compound detected could be considered as health-promoting nutrients. In the last years an increased consumer's sensibility has been noted about the methods of production of animal derived foods 1. Particularly, several concerns have arisen towards livestock intensive breeding conditions, which are considered one of the causes of environmental pollution as well as disrespectful of animal welfare, although a direct relationship among the intensification of livestock and these topics has not been provided 2,3. Whatever may or may not be the truth of these speculations, the challenge of future techniques is to focus on the sustainability of livestock systems, together with high quality derived products and animal welfare 4. Furthermore, in order to encounter the growing global demand for animal derived food, more land (from 0.2 to 1 billion additional hectares) is required until 2050 5. The use of grassland for livestock breeding could be an appropriate strategy to increase the competitiveness of the farms, since there is a huge amount of land, named "marginal areas", where arable production cannot be carried out and grazing may represent a tool to increase its utilization and efficiency 6,7. However, excluding marginal areas, when lands are exploited for grazing, low efficiency and production are recorded, leading to low economic and environmental sustainability of extensive breeding conditions 7. An alternative and valid strategy is the "zero grazing" technique, recently developed to increase livestock sustainability by using grassland. Also known as "cut and carry", it consists in grass harvesting and administration to housed animals as total mixed ration (TMR), in a group pen situation 8,9. This appealing technique allows to both reduce feeding costs and to introduce high quality forage in the diet of the animals, since grass is a valuable source of mineral and vitamins, with advantages on milk quality 10. In fact, recent studies, carried out on dairy buffaloes, demonstrated that green forage increased the concentration of some health-promoting biomolecules in milk 11. Milk is a complex biological fluid, consisting of water and several nutrients, such as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and some small secondary metabolites 12. Furthermore, milk chemical composition depends on many intrinsic and external factors that can influence its characteristics 13. Some studies focused on the characterization of the chemical composition of milk, evaluating the effect of different TMR and types of
Studies in health technology and informatics, May 18, 2023
The present work aims at describing a viable "protocol" for unobtrusive direct/indirect monitorin... more The present work aims at describing a viable "protocol" for unobtrusive direct/indirect monitoring of biometric parameters for the estimation of body conditions on Mediterranean Buffalo populations, using low-cost automated systems i.e., smart cameras endowed with depth perception capabilities.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neem oil on caprine pedic... more The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neem oil on caprine pediculosis and on kids’ growth performances. The neem (Azadirachta indica) belongs to the Meliaceae family, and in Eastern countries it is mainly considered for the insecticidal activities of the kernel oil. The neem seeds contain bioactive principles, such as azadirachtin A, salannin, nimbin, and nimbolide. The trial was carried out on 24 kids, 120 days old, maintained in open yards. Animals were divided in 4 homogeneous groups (n = 6 animals/group) based on age, louse count, body condition score (BCS) and live body weight: Control Group (C, saline NaCl, 0.9%), Neem Group 1 (NO-100, 100 mL of neem oil per 10 kg), Neem Group 2 (NO-200, 200 mL/10 kg), Neem Group 3 (NO-300, 300 mL/10 kg). The treatments were performed by spraying the insecticide on the goat’s body. The study lasted 56 days, and weekly, the kids underwent louse count, BCS and body weight determination, and FAMACHA score. Data w...
A feeding strategy that maintains high content of functional molecules in buffalo milk has been v... more A feeding strategy that maintains high content of functional molecules in buffalo milk has been verified by giving Sorghum vulgare as green fodder, but it is not available all year round. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of former food products (FFPs) containing 87% biscuit meal (nonstructural carbohydrate: 60.1%; starch 14.7; crude protein 10.6), in the diet of buffaloes in terms of: (a) fermentation characteristics through gas production technique; (b) milk yield (MY) and quality; (c) content of some biomolecules and total antioxidant activity. The experiment was performed involving 50 buffaloes divided into two groups: Green group and FFPs group (animals fed Total Mixed Ration with either green forage or FFPs respectively). Daily MY was recorded and milk qualitative analyses were determined monthly for 90 days. Furthermore, fermentation characteristics of the diets were studied in vitro. No significant differences were recorded in feed intake, BCS and MY and qu...
somatic cell count at the subsequent test-day record in the validation set, and therefore it was ... more somatic cell count at the subsequent test-day record in the validation set, and therefore it was used to estimate the contribution of each feature to the best model. Independently from the data set splitting approach, the most important features were somatic cell score, differential somatic cell count, electrical conductivity, and milk production. Among climatic data, the most informative were temperature and relative humidity. When the data were split by animal ID, an improvement in models' predictive performance on the test set was observed, suggesting this as the most appropriate data splitting approach in data sets with repeated measures to avoid data leakage. According to different metrics, Neural Network was the best method for making predictions on the test set. Our findings confirmed the promising role of ML methods to improve prevention and surveillance of subclinical mastitis, exploiting the large amount of data currently available to identify animals that would possibly have high somatic cell count the subsequent month.
The measurement of milk electrical conductivity (EC) is a relatively simple and inexpensive techn... more The measurement of milk electrical conductivity (EC) is a relatively simple and inexpensive technique that has been evaluated as a routine method for the diagnosis of mastitis in dairy farms. The aim of this study was to obtain further knowledge on relationships between EC, production traits and somatic cell count (SCC) in Italian Mediterranean Buffalo. The original dataset included 5411 records collected from 808 buffalo cows. Two mixed models were used to evaluate both the effect of EC on MY, PP and FP and EC at test-day, and the effect of EC on somatic cell score (SCS) by using five different parameters (EC_param), namely: EC collected at the official milk recording test day (EC_day0), EC collected 3 days before official milk recording (EC_day3), and three statistics calculated from EC collected 1, 3 and 5 days before each test-day, respectively. All effects included in the model were significant for all traits, with the only exception of the effect of EC nested within parity for...
During haymaking and ensilage, a significant loss of sugars occurs. The addition of a total mixed... more During haymaking and ensilage, a significant loss of sugars occurs. The addition of a total mixed ratio (TMR) with a liquid feed might provide promptly utilisable energy and recover the nutrients lost during the conservation. Interesting results were already obtained by including liquid feed in a TMR in a dairy cow. However, the possibility to also utilize them in Italian Mediterranean buffalo is not yet supported by data. This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro fermentation characteristics and kinetics of different types of liquid feed, utilising bovine and buffalo rumen liquor as inocula. TMR supplemented with 0.025 g of four different liquid feeds was incubated with the TMR as control with buffalo and bovine rumen fluid using in vitro gas production technique. Considering bovine inoculum, all the experimental diets showed lower organic matter degradability and higher volatile fatty acid production than control TMR, while with buffalo rumen liquor, significant differences were o...
2021 IEEE 6th International Forum on Research and Technology for Society and Industry (RTSI), 2021
A brief overview is presented of the main findings related to the role of Industry 4.0 (in terms ... more A brief overview is presented of the main findings related to the role of Industry 4.0 (in terms of smart computing and sensing technologies) for Precision Livestock Farming, with particular focus on dairy buffalo.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a progesterone-based treatment on anoestrus... more The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a progesterone-based treatment on anoestrus in buffaloes. Primiparous acyclic buffaloes (n = 276), were divided into three classes according to their days in milk (DIM): from 50 to 90 (Class I; n = 86), from 91 to 150 (Class II; n = 102) and from 150 to 200 (Class III; n = 88). Animals were synchronized using P4 vaginal implants, followed by timed artificial insemination (TAI). They were then allowed to enter into a larger group of buffaloes for natural mating 15 days after AI was performed, and pregnancy status was monitored from then on at 15-day intervals. Finally, the temperature–humidity index (THI) was calculated. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA by means and both multiple and linear regression. The total pregnancy rate (PR) was 87.7%, with no differences among DIM classes (88.0, 92.4, and 80.0% in Classes I, II, and III, respectively). However, the PR at TAI tended to be higher (p = 0.07) in buffaloes in Class I...
The use of green feed for livestock breeding is an important strategy to encounter both the incre... more The use of green feed for livestock breeding is an important strategy to encounter both the increasing demand for animal derived products and the perceptions of the consumers regarding animal welfare and sustainability. The aim of this study was to compare different feeding strategies in lactating water buffaloes by using a metabolomic approach. The study was carried out on 32 milking buffaloes that were randomly divided into two groups for a total period of 90 days (3 sampling times). DD Group (dry diet) received a standard total mixed ratio (TMR) characterized by dry forages and concentrates; ZG Group (zero grazing) fed an isoenergetic and isoproteic diet obtained using 30% of sorghum as green forage. Samples of milk and rumen fluid were analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) techniques. Data analyses revealed the presence of several differentially accumulated metabolites and among these, ten compounds were putatively identified in milk samples (i.e. l-carnitine, acetylcarnitine, propionylcarnitine, butyrylcarnitine, 2-methylbutyroylcarnitine, 2-hexenoylcarnitine, hexanoylcarnitine, glycerophosphocholine, δ-valerobetaine and γ-butyrobetaine) and four in rumen fluid (3-(2-hydroxyphenyl) propanoate, Indole-3-acrylic acid, oleamide (cis-9,10-octadecenoamide) and 20-carboxy-leukotriene B4). The modulation of these molecules in buffalo milk is significantly related to the green/dry based feeding and some the natural compound detected could be considered as health-promoting nutrients. In the last years an increased consumer's sensibility has been noted about the methods of production of animal derived foods 1. Particularly, several concerns have arisen towards livestock intensive breeding conditions, which are considered one of the causes of environmental pollution as well as disrespectful of animal welfare, although a direct relationship among the intensification of livestock and these topics has not been provided 2,3. Whatever may or may not be the truth of these speculations, the challenge of future techniques is to focus on the sustainability of livestock systems, together with high quality derived products and animal welfare 4. Furthermore, in order to encounter the growing global demand for animal derived food, more land (from 0.2 to 1 billion additional hectares) is required until 2050 5. The use of grassland for livestock breeding could be an appropriate strategy to increase the competitiveness of the farms, since there is a huge amount of land, named "marginal areas", where arable production cannot be carried out and grazing may represent a tool to increase its utilization and efficiency 6,7. However, excluding marginal areas, when lands are exploited for grazing, low efficiency and production are recorded, leading to low economic and environmental sustainability of extensive breeding conditions 7. An alternative and valid strategy is the "zero grazing" technique, recently developed to increase livestock sustainability by using grassland. Also known as "cut and carry", it consists in grass harvesting and administration to housed animals as total mixed ration (TMR), in a group pen situation 8,9. This appealing technique allows to both reduce feeding costs and to introduce high quality forage in the diet of the animals, since grass is a valuable source of mineral and vitamins, with advantages on milk quality 10. In fact, recent studies, carried out on dairy buffaloes, demonstrated that green forage increased the concentration of some health-promoting biomolecules in milk 11. Milk is a complex biological fluid, consisting of water and several nutrients, such as lipids, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and some small secondary metabolites 12. Furthermore, milk chemical composition depends on many intrinsic and external factors that can influence its characteristics 13. Some studies focused on the characterization of the chemical composition of milk, evaluating the effect of different TMR and types of
Studies in health technology and informatics, May 18, 2023
The present work aims at describing a viable "protocol" for unobtrusive direct/indirect monitorin... more The present work aims at describing a viable "protocol" for unobtrusive direct/indirect monitoring of biometric parameters for the estimation of body conditions on Mediterranean Buffalo populations, using low-cost automated systems i.e., smart cameras endowed with depth perception capabilities.
The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neem oil on caprine pedic... more The aim of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neem oil on caprine pediculosis and on kids’ growth performances. The neem (Azadirachta indica) belongs to the Meliaceae family, and in Eastern countries it is mainly considered for the insecticidal activities of the kernel oil. The neem seeds contain bioactive principles, such as azadirachtin A, salannin, nimbin, and nimbolide. The trial was carried out on 24 kids, 120 days old, maintained in open yards. Animals were divided in 4 homogeneous groups (n = 6 animals/group) based on age, louse count, body condition score (BCS) and live body weight: Control Group (C, saline NaCl, 0.9%), Neem Group 1 (NO-100, 100 mL of neem oil per 10 kg), Neem Group 2 (NO-200, 200 mL/10 kg), Neem Group 3 (NO-300, 300 mL/10 kg). The treatments were performed by spraying the insecticide on the goat’s body. The study lasted 56 days, and weekly, the kids underwent louse count, BCS and body weight determination, and FAMACHA score. Data w...
A feeding strategy that maintains high content of functional molecules in buffalo milk has been v... more A feeding strategy that maintains high content of functional molecules in buffalo milk has been verified by giving Sorghum vulgare as green fodder, but it is not available all year round. The aim of this study was to evaluate the inclusion of former food products (FFPs) containing 87% biscuit meal (nonstructural carbohydrate: 60.1%; starch 14.7; crude protein 10.6), in the diet of buffaloes in terms of: (a) fermentation characteristics through gas production technique; (b) milk yield (MY) and quality; (c) content of some biomolecules and total antioxidant activity. The experiment was performed involving 50 buffaloes divided into two groups: Green group and FFPs group (animals fed Total Mixed Ration with either green forage or FFPs respectively). Daily MY was recorded and milk qualitative analyses were determined monthly for 90 days. Furthermore, fermentation characteristics of the diets were studied in vitro. No significant differences were recorded in feed intake, BCS and MY and qu...
somatic cell count at the subsequent test-day record in the validation set, and therefore it was ... more somatic cell count at the subsequent test-day record in the validation set, and therefore it was used to estimate the contribution of each feature to the best model. Independently from the data set splitting approach, the most important features were somatic cell score, differential somatic cell count, electrical conductivity, and milk production. Among climatic data, the most informative were temperature and relative humidity. When the data were split by animal ID, an improvement in models' predictive performance on the test set was observed, suggesting this as the most appropriate data splitting approach in data sets with repeated measures to avoid data leakage. According to different metrics, Neural Network was the best method for making predictions on the test set. Our findings confirmed the promising role of ML methods to improve prevention and surveillance of subclinical mastitis, exploiting the large amount of data currently available to identify animals that would possibly have high somatic cell count the subsequent month.
The measurement of milk electrical conductivity (EC) is a relatively simple and inexpensive techn... more The measurement of milk electrical conductivity (EC) is a relatively simple and inexpensive technique that has been evaluated as a routine method for the diagnosis of mastitis in dairy farms. The aim of this study was to obtain further knowledge on relationships between EC, production traits and somatic cell count (SCC) in Italian Mediterranean Buffalo. The original dataset included 5411 records collected from 808 buffalo cows. Two mixed models were used to evaluate both the effect of EC on MY, PP and FP and EC at test-day, and the effect of EC on somatic cell score (SCS) by using five different parameters (EC_param), namely: EC collected at the official milk recording test day (EC_day0), EC collected 3 days before official milk recording (EC_day3), and three statistics calculated from EC collected 1, 3 and 5 days before each test-day, respectively. All effects included in the model were significant for all traits, with the only exception of the effect of EC nested within parity for...
During haymaking and ensilage, a significant loss of sugars occurs. The addition of a total mixed... more During haymaking and ensilage, a significant loss of sugars occurs. The addition of a total mixed ratio (TMR) with a liquid feed might provide promptly utilisable energy and recover the nutrients lost during the conservation. Interesting results were already obtained by including liquid feed in a TMR in a dairy cow. However, the possibility to also utilize them in Italian Mediterranean buffalo is not yet supported by data. This study aimed to evaluate the in vitro fermentation characteristics and kinetics of different types of liquid feed, utilising bovine and buffalo rumen liquor as inocula. TMR supplemented with 0.025 g of four different liquid feeds was incubated with the TMR as control with buffalo and bovine rumen fluid using in vitro gas production technique. Considering bovine inoculum, all the experimental diets showed lower organic matter degradability and higher volatile fatty acid production than control TMR, while with buffalo rumen liquor, significant differences were o...
2021 IEEE 6th International Forum on Research and Technology for Society and Industry (RTSI), 2021
A brief overview is presented of the main findings related to the role of Industry 4.0 (in terms ... more A brief overview is presented of the main findings related to the role of Industry 4.0 (in terms of smart computing and sensing technologies) for Precision Livestock Farming, with particular focus on dairy buffalo.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a progesterone-based treatment on anoestrus... more The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a progesterone-based treatment on anoestrus in buffaloes. Primiparous acyclic buffaloes (n = 276), were divided into three classes according to their days in milk (DIM): from 50 to 90 (Class I; n = 86), from 91 to 150 (Class II; n = 102) and from 150 to 200 (Class III; n = 88). Animals were synchronized using P4 vaginal implants, followed by timed artificial insemination (TAI). They were then allowed to enter into a larger group of buffaloes for natural mating 15 days after AI was performed, and pregnancy status was monitored from then on at 15-day intervals. Finally, the temperature–humidity index (THI) was calculated. Statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA by means and both multiple and linear regression. The total pregnancy rate (PR) was 87.7%, with no differences among DIM classes (88.0, 92.4, and 80.0% in Classes I, II, and III, respectively). However, the PR at TAI tended to be higher (p = 0.07) in buffaloes in Class I...
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