{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]],"date-time":"2025-12-19T09:42:46Z","timestamp":1766137366280,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":33,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]],"date-time":"2025-12-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766102400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Fondazione CRT \u201cFinanziamento Bando Richieste Ordinarie 2023\u201d","award":["106803\/2023.1760"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["106803\/2023.1760"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Animals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study investigates the reliability and potential genetic utility of data recorded by automatic milking systems by comparing them with official milk recording data. Analyses focused on phenotypic distributions, correlations, systematic differences, and heritability estimates for milk production and quality traits including milk yield, fat and protein percentage, somatic cell count, and electrical conductivity. Automatic milking system data and official milk recording data shared similar distributions. Correlations between the two systems were high for milk yield (r = 0.93), but moderate for fat (r = 0.52) and protein percentage (r = 0.48), and somatic cell count (r = 0.62), suggesting that while the former provides consistent data for quantity traits, quality-related ones may be less reliable. Systematic deviations between automatic milking systems and official milk recordings emerged across different lactation stages. Heritability estimates based on automatic milking system data were generally higher than the official control for production traits, supporting their use in genetic evaluations. Electrical conductivity displayed a similar heritability to somatic cell count, but its measure is insufficiently detailed and its use as an indirect indicator of udder health is not recommended. Automatic milking system data demonstrates potential for integration into genetic selection programs, although further refinement of sensor accuracy is recommended.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ani16010001","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]],"date-time":"2025-12-19T09:29:16Z","timestamp":1766136556000},"page":"1","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Assessing the Reliability of Automatic Milking Systems Data to Support Genetic Improvement in Dairy Cattle"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-2761-4689","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Enrico","family":"Ponzo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7758-3417","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Riccardo","family":"Moretti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9788-3695","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fernando","family":"Masia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Farm Management Support, Lely International N.V., 3147 PB Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-7948-0884","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elisa","family":"Vrieze","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Farm Management Support, Lely International N.V., 3147 PB Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8767-3579","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Paola","family":"Sacchi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9720-5982","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Stefania","family":"Chessa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, 10095 Grugliasco, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11503","DOI":"10.3168\/jds.2020-18786","article-title":"Genetic, farm, and lactation effects on behavior and performance of US Holsteins in automated milking systems","volume":"103","author":"Dechow","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. 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