Udder typology of Arabian dairy camels and proposal of a linear scoring system for assessing their udder traits for machine milking

A total of 146 multiparous lactating Arabian camels at mid lactation, machine milked twice-daily and managed under intensive conditions were used to study the morphological traits of the udder for on-field udder evaluation. Pictures from the left side of the udder were obtained with a digital camera immediately before milking for later study. Udder and teat measures (using a standard reference) and shape typology were assessed by 3 evaluators from the digital pictures. Results revealed that Arabian dairy camels had well developed udders with large sized teats. Typology of the whole udder glands showed that the globular shape (47.3%) was the most common, followed by pear (34.3%) and pendulous (18.4%) shapes. Regarding the teats, conical or funnel was the most frequent shape (63.2% and 58.7% for front and rear teats, respectively) followed by cylindrical (26.4 and 32.5%, respectively) and blew-up (8.7 and 10.4%, respectively). Udder linear score repeatabilities among classifiers were moderate for udder depth (0.69), udder floor inclination (0.64), teat shape (0.69), teat length (0.64) and teat width (0.45). We concluded that dairy camels need specific milking clusters, as well as selection by morphology for improving their machine milkability.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Ayadi, Moez, Aljumaah, Riyadh Saleh, Samara, Emad Mohammed, Faye, Bernard, Caja, Gerardo
Format:	article biblioteca
Language:	eng
Subjects:	L40 - Anatomie et morphologie des animaux, L50 - Physiologie et biochimie animales, N20 - Machines et matériels agricoles, dromadaire, animal laitier, conformation animale, glande mammaire, typologie, machine à traire, Camelus dromedarius, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_10467, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_4833, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_29251, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_4562, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_29008, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_4836, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_5a453ce9, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_6822,
Online Access:	http://agritrop.cirad.fr/577398/ http://agritrop.cirad.fr/577398/1/ID577398.pdf
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