水牛(Bubalusbubalis)是具有世界重要性的物种,饲养以生产牛奶,肉,隐藏起来,并且经常在农村环境中用作工作动物,无法获得高科技解决方案。在本研究中,招募了五个流行品种的100个泌乳水牛(50个初产和50个复产)来表征和比较乳头形态。特别是,重点放在尼利·拉维身上,地中海,埃及人,保加利亚Murrah,和在巴基斯坦饲养的阿塞拜疆水牛,意大利,埃及,保加利亚,伊朗,分别。在所有国家,在挤奶前获得纵向横截面超声波,以测量个体水平的乳头参数:总体,乳头管长度(TCL)平均24.13mm,奶嘴直径(TD)30.46mm,胸骨直径(CD)17.80毫米,和乳头壁(TW)7.12mm。品种间差异最大的性状是TCL,与CD和TD呈正相关,与TW呈负相关,无论奶嘴位置(前/后或左/右)。在TW和CD之间发现强的负相关(-0.43)。方差分析表明,品种的固定效应对除TD外的所有性状均有显著影响。事实上,保加利亚Murrah,阿塞拜疆,埃及水牛对TCL的估计最大,而NR最小(14.70毫米)。尼利·拉维的TW最大,埃及人,和地中海水牛,估计值等于8.19、7.59和8.74毫米,分别。NiliRavi也显示出最大的TL(82.39毫米)。在CD方面,最小二乘平均值最低的是地中海水牛(12.14毫米)。初生水牛和多产水牛在TD方面有所不同,TW,和TL,年龄较大的动物表现出最高的最小二乘均值。就立场而言,相反,在TD上观察到显著差异,CD,和TL当比较前后奶嘴时,因为左乳头和右乳头没有区别。乳头解剖结构包括一组可遗传的形态特征,因此依赖于品种。本研究中呈现的差异可归因于五个品种的不同育种目标和选择压力;例如,在某些情况下,例如地中海水牛,数十年来的选择旨在提高牛奶产量和可挤奶性,并实现机械挤奶的最佳构型。更好地了解乳腺解剖描述符可以提供有关品种历史的信息,并可以提供有用的见解来指导可能的选择。
The buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a species of worldwide importance, raised to produce milk, meat, and hides, and often used as a working animal in rural contexts with low access to hi-tech solutions. In the present
study, 100 lactating
buffaloes (50 primiparous and 50 pluriparous) of five popular breeds were recruited to characterize and compare teat morphology. In particular, the focus was put on the Nili Ravi, Mediterranean, Egyptian, Bulgarian Murrah, and Azeri buffaloes raised in Pakistan, Italy, Egypt, Bulgaria, and Iran, respectively. In all countries, a longitudinal cross-section ultrasound was obtained before the milking to measure teat parameters at individual level: overall, teat canal length (TCL) averaged 24.13 mm, teat diameter (TD) 30.46 mm, cisternal diameter (CD) 17.80 mm, and teat wall (TW) 7.12 mm. The most variable trait across breeds was TCL which was positively correlated with CD and TD and negatively with TW, regardless of the teat position (front/rear or left/right). A strong negative correlation was found between TW and CD (- 0.43). The analysis of variance revealed that the fixed effect of breed significantly affected all the traits except TD. In fact, Bulgarian Murrah, Azeri, and Egyptian
buffaloes presented the greatest estimate of TCL, whereas NR the smallest (14.70 mm). The TW was maximum in Nili Ravi, Egyptian, and Mediterranean
buffaloes, with estimates equal to 8.19, 7.59, and 8.74 mm, respectively. Nili Ravi also showed the greatest TL (82.39 mm). In terms of CD, the lowest least square mean was that of Mediterranean
buffaloes (12.14 mm). Primiparous and pluriparous buffaloes differed in terms of TD, TW, and TL, with older animals presenting the highest least square mean. In terms of position, instead, significant differences were observed for TD, CD, and TL when comparing front and rear teats, as left and right teats did not differ. Teat anatomy includes a set of heritable morphological features and is therefore breed-dependent. Differences presented in this
study could be attributed to the divergent breeding objective and selective pressure across the five breeds; e.g., in some cases such as Mediterranean buffalo, selection for decades was oriented to improve milk production and milkability and achieve optimal conformation for mechanical milking. A better understanding of the mammary gland anatomical descriptors can be informative of the history of a breed and could provide useful insights to guide possible selection.