“…Calibration equations used in this study were the outcome of a research project (MilCo project, CPDA122982; University of Padova, Padova, Italy), which started in 2013 with the aim of developing proce-dures to estimate EBV for the Italian Simmental cattle population for FTIR predictions of detailed protein and FA composition, minerals, lactoferrin, coagulation properties, cheese yield, and curd composition. Reference data for the development of calibration equations were obtained for milk protein composition by reversed phase HPLC (Bonfatti et al, 2008), for FA composition by accelerated extraction (Dionex application note 345; Thermo Scientific Dionex, 2016) followed by 2-dimensional gas chromatography separation (Pellattiero et al, 2015), for minerals by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (Soyeurt et al, 2009), for lactoferrin by ELISA (Soyeurt et al, 2007), for milk coagulation properties by lactodynamography (Bonfatti et al, 2016), and for cheese yield and curd composition by micro-cheese making (Bonfatti et al, 2016). In total, 92 traits were measured and calibration equations were developed using more than 1,000 samples for each of the investigated traits, with the exception of minerals (n = 689) and lactoferrin (n = 558).…”