Graduate Student Literature Review: Farm management practices: Potential microbial sources that determine the microbiota of raw bovine milk

Abstract

Environmental and herd-associated factors such as geographical location, climatic conditions, forage types, bedding, soil, animal genetics, herd size, housing, lactation stage, and udder health are exploited by farmers to dictate specific management strategies that ensure dairy operation profitability and enhance the sustainability of milk production. Along with milking routines, milking systems, and storage conditions, these farming practices greatly influence the microbiota of raw milk, as evidenced by several recent studies. During the past few years, the increased interest in high-throughput sequencing technologies combined with culture-dependent methods to investigate dairy microbial ecology has improved our understanding of raw milk community dynamics throughout storage and processing. However, knowledge is still lacking on the niche-specific communities in the farm environment, and on the factors that determine bacteria transfer to the raw milk. This review summarizes findings from the past 2 decades regarding the effects of farm management practices on the diversity of bacterial species that determine the microbiological quality of raw cow milk.

Keywords: dairy farm; ecological niche; microbiome; milking system.