Magnitude
and the production pattern (or shape) of milk produced by dairy cattle are
determined by the physiological process of the mammary gland. The production pattern
or shape, projected surface on a plane by graphical representation and which
can be regarded as a biological form, lacks its appropriate description. We
developed the application of the relatively new geometric morphometrics method,
which visualizes, measures, and tests differences in the form of biological
shapes. We applied the landmark-based geometric morphometrics technique to
quantify variation of magnitude and the shape projected on plane by graphical
depiction representing the relationship between milk yield and time. We used a
free software and small dataset of milk production, monthly time series data
from 2007 to 2015, of two leading dairy industries: New Zealand and United
States. The results of the analysis showed production patterns of cardioid shape in New Zealand and heart shape in
United States. Those forms varied in size and shape within and between
countries, and only shape within country were statistically non-significant.
The landmark-based geometric morphometric is effective to quantify variation of
the shape of the milk production pattern under different setting. This may not only complement the analysis of milk
prediction, but also reveal profound information about the biological process
represented through the shape, by allowing the control of co-variation with
other variables.
Cite this paper
Á, Durón-Benítez, N. A. and Huang, W. (2016). Using Geometric Morphometrics to Quantify Variation of Shape and Magnitude of the Pattern of Milk Production of Dairy Cattle. Open Access Library Journal, 3, e02928. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1102928.
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