Buffalo welfare: a literature review from 1992 to 2023 with a text mining and topic analysis approach

Abstract

Buffalo is a rustic animal; it can adapt and survive in various environments with different topography, climate and vegetation, and has a greater longevity than cattle. The high resistance to parasites, as well as the ability to improve the efficiency of feed consumption in case of forage shortage, means that even in marshy territories, where any other type of livestock or agricultural activity is impossible, buffalo farming can develop an economy. This review aims to present the key research topics, the evolution and geographic distribution of literature on buffalo welfare, and to underscore potentiality and existing knowledge gaps. A comprehensive search on the Scopus bibliometric database was carried out using various welfare-related keywords such as: ‘buffalo welfare’, ‘buffalo calf welfare’ and ‘buffalo heifers’ welfare’. The research identified 308 papers published in English from January 1992 to December 2023 that, after filtering, became 148 eligible records. Descriptive statistics revealed a significant exponential increase in studies on buffalo welfare since 2020, particularly in Italy, followed by Brazil. Text mining and topic analysis revealed that the most frequently mentioned terms were ‘milk’, ‘water’, ‘behaviour’, ‘farm’ and ‘stun’, confirming the role and the importance of this species in dairy production. Nine identified topics span diverse subject areas such as ‘slaughter process’, ‘dairy production’, ‘general welfare’, ‘housing system’, ‘heat stress’, ‘reproduction performance’, ‘health status’ ‘breeding management’, and ‘stress evaluation’. Although academia shows an increasing interest in buffalo behaviour and welfare, continued research is necessary to fully comprehend how to ensure the welfare of this important species.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Overview of buffalo welfare in scientific literature

• Usage of new techniques as text mining and topic analysis for the review process

• Slaughter process and Dairy production were the most frequent topics

Keywords:

• Buffalo
• topic analysis
• welfare
• machine learning
• text mining

Acknowledgements

The paper was born within the framework of the programmatic initiatives of the ASPA Commission for Animal Behaviour and Welfare, and the authors are thankful to Dr. Barbara Contiero who taught these machine-learning techniques to the members of the Commission. This study was carried out within the Agritech National Research Centre. This manuscript reflects only the authors’ views and opinions; neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be considered responsible for them.

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Data availability statement

Data will be shared on request.

Additional information

Funding

This study received funding from the European Union Next-Generation EU (PIANO NAZIONALE DI RIPRESA E RESILIENZA (PNRR)—MISSIONE 4 COMPONENTE 2, INVESTIMENTO 1.4—D.D. 1032 17/06/2022, CN00000022).