Relationship Between Bio-Climatic and Milk Composition Data of Dairy Sheep Farms: Comparison Between THI and Multivariate Weather Index.

ABSTRACT: Milk yield and its composition show individual variation due to the effects of the environment. Previous studies suggest that meteorological variables exert negative effects on milk yield and composition, especially during summer. This study aimed to examine the effects of meteorological variables on bulk milk composition in the Sardinian sheep production system. In this work, a total of 218,170 records belonging to 4562 dairy sheep farms were merged with the meteorological data provided by 60 meteorological stations located on Sardinia Island (Italy). Milk composition in the late spring and summer recorded during a 5-year period was used to evaluate the impact of climate exposure on bulk milk traits. The milk quality was analyzed using a linear mixed model that included the fixed effects

SUBMITTER: Marras R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11851843 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature