On the Relationship Among Linear Type Traits and Functional Longevity in the Italian Mediterranean Buffalo Using a Weibull Proportional Hazards Model.

Weibull proportional hazards model was used to identify the non-genetic effects that affect length of productive life (LPL) of the Italian Mediterranean Buffalo (IMB). Data were provided by the Italian National Association of Buffalo Breeders (ANASB) and included records of reproductive, productive, and linear type traits from 59,943 buffalo with first calving from 2002 to 2019. Data were divided into 4 geographical regions to determine if the relationship between the investigated effects and LPL varied by region.

Electrophysiological Correlates of Amplified Emotion-Related Cognitive Processing Evoked by Self-Administered Disgust Images.

In the processing of emotions, the brain prepares and reacts in distinctive manners depending upon the negative or positive nuance of the emotion elicitors. Previous investigations showed that negative elicitors generally evoke more intense neural activities than positive and neutral ones, as reflected in the augmented amplitude of all sub-components of the event-related potentials (ERP) late posterior positivity (LPP) complex, while less is known about the emotion of disgust. The present study aimed to examine whether the LPP complex during the processing of disgust stimuli showed greater amplitude than other emotion elicitors with negative or positive valences, thus confirming it as a neural marker of disgust-related negativity bias at earlier or later stages.

Investigation of Climate Effects on the Physiological Parameters of Dairy Livestock (Cow vs. Buffalo).

Nowadays climate change is affecting the planet's biodiversity, and livestock practices must adapt themselves to improve production without affecting animal welfare. This work investigates the influence that some climatic parameters such as Environment Temperature, Relative Humidity, Thermal excursion and Temperature-Humidity Index (THI), can have on milk quantity and quality in two different dairy species (buffaloes and cows) raised on the same farm. A further aim was to understand if THI threshold used for cows could also be used for buffaloes.

Exploring the sources of variation of electrical conductivity and total and differential somatic cell count in Italian Mediterranean buffaloes.

In the buffalo dairy sector, a huge effort is still needed to improve mastitis prevention, detection, and management. Electrical conductivity (EC) and total somatic cell count (SCC) are well-known indirect indicators of mastitis. Differential somatic cell count (DSCC), which represents the proportion of neutrophils and lymphocytes on the total SCC, is instead a novel phenotype collected in the dairy cattle sector in the last lustrum.

Genetic parameters for reproductive traits in the Italian Mediterranean buffalo using milk yield as a correlated trait.

Until now, the genetic evaluation of the Italian Mediterranean Buffalo has been mainly focused on production traits. However, female fertility affects the efficiency of the dairy industry as it is essential to maintain the profitability of dairy farms. Indeed, the estimation of its genetic component is crucial for its improvement.