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. 2020 Dec 8:7:572422.
doi: 10.3389/fvets.2020.572422. eCollection 2020.

The Effect of Pre-milking Stimulation on Teat Morphological Parameters and Milk Traits in the Italian Water Buffalo

Angela Costa  1 , Massimo De Marchi  1 , Giulio Visentin  2 , Maria Concetta Campagna  3 , Antonio Borghese  4 , Carlo Boselli  3
Affiliations

The Effect of Pre-milking Stimulation on Teat Morphological Parameters and Milk Traits in the Italian Water Buffalo

Angela Costa et al. Front Vet Sci. .

Abstract

Water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) are very sensitive to environmental stimulus before and during milking, and this explains why disrupted milk ejections due to blood oxytocin level instability are frequent in this species. According to the literature, the manual stimulation (MS) of teats before milking promotes oxytocin release and allows milk ejection to start within 2-3 min. However, the pre-milking stimulation of teats is not always part of the milking routine in Italian buffalo farms; moreover, buffaloes with unstable milk let-down are sometimes treated with exogenous oxytocin (OX). Different types of pre-milking stimulation can impact differently on the mammary gland epithelium and structures and, therefore, on milk yield. In this study, we observed the changes in teat morphological traits before and after the application of three types of stimuli, i.e., no manual stimulation (NS), MS, and OX, in buffaloes reared in an Italian dairy farm. In particular, measurements were available for 23 and 21 buffaloes for front and rear teats, respectively. Subsequently, the effect of the pre-milking stimulation type was estimated on teat morphological characteristics and on milk traits recorded after the application of stimuli. The results showed that the teat canal length was shorter (P < 0.05) after stimulation in the case of MS and OX compared to NS. Cistern diameter was overall greater for MS and lower for OX. On the contrary, teat wall thickness was greater and lower for OX and MS, respectively. Milk yield and quality (fat, protein, and somatic cell score) were similar across the three types of pre-milking stimulation. In perspective, the impact of these types of pre-milking stimulation should be evaluated on a large scale, and the focus might be put on mammary gland epithelium integrity, mastitis incidence, and other udder health indicators in milk, e.g., electrical conductivity, differential somatic cell count, lactose content, and sodium and chloride concentration.

Keywords: dairy buffalo; manual stimulation; oxytocin; teat morphology; udder health.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representation of (a) teat diameter, (b) diameter of cistern, (c) left and right wall thickness, and (d) canal length.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Least square means of (A) front and (B) rear teat morphological traits for the fixed effect of pre-milking stimulation. Different letters indicate statistical significance (P < 0.05), and bars indicate the standard errors of estimates (0.043–0.161). For no stimulation, manual stimulation, and oxytocin injection, the number of observations was equal to 44, 64, and 30 (front teats, A) and 35, 63, and 21 (rear teats, B), respectively.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Least square means of (A) front and (B) rear teat canal length and wall thickness for the fixed effect of the interaction between parity and pre-milking stimulation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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