Associação entre a contagem de células somáticas e a produção de proteínas em leite de búfalas: uma revisão sistemática

Abstract

Somatic cell count (SCC) is an essential tool for indicating mammary gland health. It is one of the key parameters used to detect mastitis in herds, an infectious disease that causes inflammation of the mammary gland and is therefore highly relevant to the dairy industry. Besides affecting the buffaloes' udders, mastitis directly and negatively impacts milk quality and composition, thereby affecting the final yield. To investigate and provide a comprehensive view of the association between SCC and buffalo milk composition, a systematic literature review was conducted. The review question was: “Does somatic cell count affect the protein percentage in buffalo milk?” Three databases were chosen: SCOPUS, AGRICOLA, and AGRIS, covering the years 2014-2024. The search filter was uniformly structured across all three databases using Boolean operators AND and OR. The search strategy formulation was “milk protein” AND “somatic cells” AND “buffalos” AND “association.” A total of 41 articles were retrieved from the scientific databases. Of these, 8 articles were removed due to duplication across databases. The next exclusion criterion applied was a title content diverging from the topic, resulting in the exclusion of 28 articles, leaving 5. After abstract evaluations, only one article was excluded, and four proceeded to the full-text review phase. The analysis revealed that while some articles point to a positive and significant correlation between SCC and buffalo milk protein percentage, the overall correlation is, in most cases, null, low, negative, or non- significant, suggesting independence between these traits. Nevertheless, further research on this topic is essential, as high SCC levels indicate mastitis presence, which, besides reducing herd milk production, may also affect milk quality.