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## IntechOpen Book Series Veterinary Medicine and Science Volume 3

Naceur M'Hamdi is an assistant professor of animal biotechnology and statistics at the National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, University of Carthage, and a member of the Animal Science Department of INAT. He graduated from the Higher School of Agriculture of Mateur, University of Carthage, in 2002, and received his Master's degree in 2006. His PhD thesis was on "animal genetics and biostatistics: genetic welfare indicators of dairy

cattle" at the Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott-Meriem, University of Sousse in 2011. He has worked as an assistant professor at INAT since 2013. He is the author of more than 120 scientific papers and an editor member of more than 20 international journals. Furthermore, he serves as a guest editor for a number of lactation and animal welfare books. Naceur M'Hamdi serves on many national and international committees. His research interests are: animal sciences and animal welfare, genetics, biostatistics, farming sustainability, climate change, greenhouse gases, and lactation curves and physiology.

#### **Editor of Volume 3: Naceur M'Hamdi**

National Agronomic Institute of Tunisia, University of Carthage, Tunisia

### **Book Series Editor: Rita Payan-Carreira**

University of Évora, Portugal

### Scope of the Series

Paralleling similar advances in the medical field, astounding advances occurred in the Veterinary Medicine and Science in recent decades, fostering a better support to animal health and more humane animal production, a better understanding of the physiology of endangered species, to improve the assisted reproductive technologies or the pathogenesis of certain diseases, where animals can be used as models for human diseases (like cancer, degenerative diseases or fertility), and even as a guarantee of public health. Bridging the Human, Animal and Environmental health, the holistic and integrative "One Health" concept intimately associates the developments within those fields, projecting its advancements into practice. This book series aims to tackle a variety of fields in the animal-related medicine and sciences, providing thematic volumes, high quality and significance in the field, directed to researchers and postgraduates. It aims to give us a glimpse into the new accomplishments in the Veterinary Medicine and Science field. By addressing hot topics in veterinary sciences, we aim to gather authoritative texts within each issue of this series, providing in-depth overviews and analysis for graduates, academics

and practitioners and foreseeing a deeper understanding of the subject. Forthcoming texts, written and edited by experienced researchers from both industry and academia, will also discuss scientific challenges faced today in Veterinary Medicine and Science. In brief, we hope that books in this series will provide accessible references for those interested or working in this field and encourage learning in a range of different topics.

Contents

**Section 1**

Dairy Animals

**Section 2**

*by Moez Ayadi*

**Preface III**

Biology, Physiological Basis and Nutritional Requirements **1**

**Chapter 1 3**

**Chapter 2 39**

**Chapter 3 53**

**Chapter 4 65** Probiotic Supplement Improves the Health Status and Lactation Performance in

**Chapter 5 79**

Modeling Lactation and Optimizing Milking **93**

**Chapter 6 95** Mathematical Modeling of Lactation Curves: A Review of Parametric Models

**Chapter 7 115**

*by Shakira Ghazanfar, Aayesha Riaz, Muhammad Naeem Tahir, Saad Maqbool,* 

Relationship between Body Condition Score, Milk Yield, Reproduction, and

*by Mohamed Chniter, Cyrine Darej, Imen Belhadj Slimen and Wiem Chouchene*

Lactation Strategies and Milk Composition in Pinnipeds

Lactation Performance of Small Ruminants in the Maghreb Region

*by Federico German Riet Sapriza*

Nutrition for Lactation of Dairy Sheep

Biochemical Parameters in Dairy Cows *by Wissal Souissi and Rachid Bouraoui*

*by Mahdi Bouallegue and Naceur M'Hamdi*

Optimization of Milking Frequency in Dairy Ruminants

*by Houcine Selmi, Amani Bahri and Hamadi Rouissi*

*Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Fatima Tariq and Irum Arif*

## Contents


Preface

The physiology of lactation has attracted scientists involved in research with farm

*Lactation in Farm Animals: Biology, Physiological Basis, Nutritional Requirements, and Modelization* is organized into two sections and divided into seven chapters. In this book, the authors discuss lactation strategies, milk composition, small ruminant lactation, nutritional requirements, prebiotic supplements in animal nutrition, and modeling and optimizing lactation. This book presents in-depth reviews of selected topics in lactation and milk production written by experts in their respective areas.

The editorial team assembled 18 authors to write the chapters. These contributors represent diverse expertise from academia, government research, and development institutions to ensure scientific precision and knowledge in lactation physiology and milk production. This book is not meant to be a treatise on the subject but presents

basic information on the subject in a concise, easily understandable style.

Chapter 1 looks at maternal investment during lactation, which is higher than during gestation, and is the most energetically expensive period in a mammal's life cycle. Pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, fur seals, and walruses) are one of the principal groups of aquatic mammals that are adapted to reside on land and at sea. During lactation, they secrete and rapidly transfer lipid-rich and energy-dense milk to the pup and rely on land or ice to give birth and nurse their pups. As a consequence, foraging at sea and nursing of the young on land are separated by space and time. Lactation strategies in pinnipeds have evolved to meet particular environmental conditions, and because of their worldwide distribution they have evolved two main lactation strategies: a fasting strategy and a foraging strategy. Both strategies rely on energy reserves for the production of energy-dense and nutrient-rich milk. In comparison with the milk of land and marine mammals, the milk of pinnipeds is characterized by (1) high milk fat concentration and (2) the virtual absence of lactose. These two main differences in milk composition are a result of the lactation strategies adopted by pinnipeds and their unique lactation physiology in which they need to transfer high energy-rich milk in a short period of time while conserving

In Chapter 2, Maghreb areas are characterized by rainfall seasonality and scarcity resulting in a low fodder potential. In these arid and semiarid regions, small ruminant production is the main source of income for farmers, and sheep (*Ovis aries*) and goats (*Capra hircus*) are generally confronted with severe nutritional deficits during feed scarcity periods, which exacerbate disease and health problems and result in low performance. Interestingly and despite the importance of milk performance to the dairy industry, very few works have studied the potentialities of the mammary gland through the lactation period in both sheep and goats elevated in the Maghreb areas. Nevertheless, understanding the different mammary gland patterns throughout lactation is essential to improve dairy production and reduce poverty and vulnerability in rural farming systems in these developing areas. The main objective of this review is to analyze the lactation processes as well as

animals for a long time.

water.
