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The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

Abstract

The aim of this study was to monitor the changes in teat measurements from early to mid-lactation in the Bulgarian Murrah buffaloes. The experiment was carried out with twenty (10 primiparous and 10 pluriparous) lactating buffaloes. Five series of ultrasound measurements were performed, each consisting of two sessions for each animal corresponding to the phases of lactation: first lactation month (day 1 to day 30 postpartum) and mid- lactation (day 122 to day 152). The studied parameters were teat canal length (TCL), teat diameter (TD), teat wall thickness (TWT), and teat cistern diameter (TCD). The data were processed using the software product LSMLMW and MIXMDL via the following model used for each of the traits: In Model 1, fixed effects of calving month, parity, lactation phase, milking time, teat position, and milk yield were used. Another linear model was constructed to test the covariance between teat position and lactation phase (Model 2). Only two of the ultrasound teat measurements were significantly affected by lactation phase. While TD of all four teats decreased from the first to the fourth month (P ≤ 0.001), TCD increased (P ≤ 0.001). Teat position is a significant source of variation in TWT (P ≤ 0.01) and TCL (P ≤ 0.001). All ultrasound measurements have significantly greater values in the pluriparous compared to the primiparous buffaloes. Parity is a significant source of variability for all studied functional traits, best expressed for TL and TCL (P ≤ 0.001). The present study showed that TCL practically does not change during most productive lactation, despite the period of intensive machine milking, unlike most other teat measurements. This justifies the practice of not changing the milking system parameters and udder prophylactics throughout lactation periods.

DOI

10.56808/2985-1130.4022

First Page

1

Last Page

9

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