Novel geometrical model for assessing body condition in dairy cattle

Das, H. H.; Paksoy, Zahid

doi:10.5958/0976-0555.2015.00051.5

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Considering that the limitations are common not only in horses but also in all animal species where BCS has been utilized, several studies have developed alternative methods to differentiate body condition using objective criteria (Bewley et al, 2008;Azzaro et al, 2011;Halachmi et al, 2013;Das & Paksoy, 2015;Pfeifer et al, 2017). However, some of them require specialised equipment, software and personnel to interpret the results making them less applicable in clinical settings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some of them require specialised equipment, software and personnel to interpret the results making them less applicable in clinical settings. Moreover, most of them have been implemented only for their use in cattle (Bewley et al, 2008;Azzaro et al, 2011;Halachmi et al, 2013;Das & Paksoy, 2015;Pfeifer et al, 2017) and therefore, the necessity to find a suitable method to objectively evaluate the body condition in horses is still lacking. Against this perspective, taking into account that body weight alone is not a good indicator of relative adiposity (Carter & Dugdale, 2013), a good assessment of body fat reserves, minimizing the influence of body dimensions and intestinal contents, can be achieved by evaluating ultrasonographically the amount of subcutaneous fat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of an index based on ultrasonographic measurements for the objective appraisal of body condition in Andalusian horses

Martin‐Giménez

Aguirre-Pascasio

Blas

2018

Span. j. agric. res.

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Body condition scoring (BCS) is an indirect measure of the level of subcutaneous fat; however, by measuring the subcutaneous fat thicknesses (SFT), the precision of the degree of fatness assessment is improved. The aims were: 1) to develop an alternative body fat scoring index (BFSI) based on ultrasonographic measurements; 2) to assess the agreement between BCS and the new index applied to Andalusian horses; 3) to adjust the BCS cut-off values (if necessary) for overweight and obesity in this breed. One hundred and sixtysix Andalusian horses were included in this cross sectional study. On each horse, BCS, body fat percentage (BF%) and ultrasonography of SFT at localized deposits were evaluated. According to BFSI five possible body categories were established. Only one horse (0.6%) was classified as emaciated, 9.0% as thin, 74.7% as normal, 11.4% as overweight and 4.2% as obese. Despite higher BCS and SFT values were observed compared to other breeds, most of the horses evaluated presented a normal body condition under the new BFSI. BCS and BFSI were significantly associated (p<0.001), however, the concordance was low (weighted Cohen's kappa coefficient, 0.262 ± 0.071; p=0.004). Using BFSI, obese horses had significantly greater BF% than the rest of categories (p<0.001). BCS showed a good diagnostic accuracy for detection overweight (AUC = 0.759 ± 0.055; p<0.001) and obese (AUC = 0.878 ± 0.050; p=0.001) horses; redefining the cut-off values for overweight and obesity condition as 7.5/9 and 8.5/9 respectively in Andalusian horses.Additional keywords: ultrasonography; subcutaneous fat deposits; objective score; adiposity; obesity; index. Abbreviations used: AUC (area under the curve); BMI (body mass index); BCS (body condition score); BFSI (body fat scoring index); ROC (receiver operating characteristic curve); SFT (subcutaneous fat thickness); SFT-N25% (SFT over the first third of the neck-length); SFT-N50% (SFT over the second third of the neck-length); SFT-N75% (SFT over the last third of the neck-length); SFT-S (SFT behind the shoulder); SFT-Rb (SFT over the ribs); SFT-R (SFT over the rump); SFT-TH (SFT over the tailhead); BF% (body fat percentage).

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