Seroepidemiological and biomolecular survey on Toxoplasma gondii infection on organic pig farms.

Pigs are an important reservoir of Toxoplasma gondii, and pork meat is considered one of the main sources of human infection. The present survey assesses the prevalence of T. gondii in organically reared pigs in Sardinia found on the island using various diagnostic methods. Firstly, a seroepidemiological survey was carried out on 63 farms, examining individual blood samples from 414 adult pigs. Secondly, a biomolecular investigation carried out on another 62 farms, examining the brain samples from 107 adult pigs. The seroprevalence detected for T. gondii at the farm level was 85.7% (54 out of the 63 pig farms examined). However, the prevalence rate in the investigated pigs was 51.7% (214 positives out of 414 examined). A total of 54.8% (34/62) of the monitored pig farms were found to be positive by PCR. The presence of T. gondii DNA in individual brain samples was detected in 47.7% (51/107) of the examined animals. The high prevalence of T. gondii found is alarming and suggests that pigs reared on organic farms should be considered as a significant source of infection for humans in the areas investigated.

Relationship of goat milk flow emission variables with milking routine, milking parameters, milking machine characteristics and goat physiology.

The aim of this paper was to study the relationship between milk flow emission variables recorded during milking of dairy goats with variables related to milking routine, goat physiology, milking parameters and milking machine characteristics, to determine the variables affecting milking performance and help the goat industry pinpoint farm and milking practices that improve milking performance. In total, 19 farms were visited once during the evening milking. Milking parameters (vacuum level (VL), pulsation ratio and pulsation rate, vacuum drop), milk emission flow variables (milking time, milk yield, maximum milk flow (MMF), average milk flow (AVMF), time until 500 g/min milk flow is established (TS500)), doe characteristics of 8 to 10 goats/farm (breed, days in milk and parity), milking practices (overmilking, overstripping, pre-lag time) and milking machine characteristics (line height, presence of claw) were recorded on every farm. The relationships between recorded variables and farm were analysed by a one-way ANOVA analysis. The relationships of milk yield, MMF, milking time and TS500 with goat physiology, milking routine, milking parameters and milking machine design were analysed using a linear mixed model, considering the farm as the random effect. Farm was significant (P<0.05) in all the studied variables. Milk emission flow variables were similar to those recommended in scientific studies. Milking parameters were adequate in most of the farms, being similar to those recommended in scientific studies. Few milking parameters and milking machine characteristics affected the tested variables: average vacuum level only showed tendency on MMF, and milk pipeline height on TS500. Milk yield (MY) was mainly affected by parity, as the interaction of days in milk with parity was also significant. Milking time was mainly affected by milk yield and breed. Also significant were parity, the interaction of days in milk with parity and overstripping, whereas overmilking showed a slight tendency. We concluded that most of the studied variables were mainly related to goat physiology characteristics, as the effects of milking parameters and milking machine characteristics were scarce.