Qualitative behaviour assessment of dairy buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis)

By F. Napolitano, G. Rosa, F. Grasso, F. Wemelsfelder. 2012

64 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract This study applies qualitative behaviour assessment (QBA) for the first time to dairy buffaloes, using three groups of observers with different cultural backgrounds and different levels of experience in animal behaviour observation and buffalo farming. Eight buffalo heifers aged 16–18 months were subjected to two isolation tests, one performed in the indoor part of their home environment, and one in a novel outdoor paddock. Animals were filmed individually for 2.5min, and the resulting 16 video clips were shown to three observer panels, consisting of 11 applied animal behaviour scientists from 6 European countries, 11 Italian animal scientists with a background in buffalo farming but no experience in behavioural observation, and 14 Italian undergraduate animal science students with no particular experience. A free choice profiling method was used to instruct observers in QBA, and data for the three panels were analysed separately using Generalised Procrustes Analysis. All three panels showed significant inter-observer agreement ( p dim1 : Kendall W =0.96, n =3, χ 2 =43.28, p dim2 : W =0.68, n =3, χ 2 =30.73, p z =−2.52, p z =−2.52, p z =−2.38, p r =0.60 ( p p p p

Subfields: Animal Science and Zoology, Genetics, Small Animals

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/efde7d66e53f157a0e6d780c1709f4f885994713

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In Animal Science and Zoology

In Genetics

In Small Animals

Citations in the corpus

Resilience in farm animals: biology, management, breeding and implications for animal welfare (2016, background): “…behavioural assessment indicates that aspects of the animal’s demeanour are indicative of affective state (Wemelsfelder and Lawrence 2001; Wemelsfelder et al. 2001; Rousing and Wemelsfelder 2006; Brscic et al. 2009; Stockman et al. 2011, 2012; Napolitano et al. 2012; Rutherford et al. 2012).”
The contribution of qualitative behavioural assessment to appraisal of livestock welfare (2016, background): “Similarly, Napolitano et al. (2012) reported that attempts to flee and duration of running in buffalo that had been held in isolation or exposed to a novel chute were associated with an ‘agitated’ appearance.”
Validity and feasibility of qualitative behavior assessment for the evaluation of Nellore cattle temperament (2013, result): “This result is in agreement with other recent papers that used the QBA method to assess emotional state and welfare, and described first dimensions characterized as ‘calm’ – ‘agitated’ for dairy buffaloes (Napolitano et al., 2012) and between ‘calm/content/relaxed’ and ‘agitated/angry/annoyed’ for e”