Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 12, 2025
Milk Collection in the Rat Using Capillary Tubes and Estimation of Milk Fat Content by Creamatocrit
Published on: December 16, 2015
Assessing the relationship between somatic cell count and the milk mid-infrared spectrum in Chinese Holstein cows
Chao Du1,2, Xiaoli Ren1,3, Chu Chu1
1Key Laboratory of Agricultural Animal Genetics, Breeding and Reproduction of Ministry of Education, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China.
Background:
Milk produced by dairy cows is a complex combination of many components, but the effect of mastitis has only been investigated for a few of these components. Milk mid-infrared (MIR) spectra can reflect the global composition of milk, and this study aimed to detect the relationships between milk MIR spectral wavenumbers and milk somatic cell count (SCC)-a sensitive biomarker for mastitis.
Methods:
Pearson correlation analysis was used to calculate the correlation coefficient between somatic count score (SCS) and spectral wavenumbers. A general linear mixed model was applied to investigate the effect of three different classes of SCC (low, middle and high) on spectral wavenumbers.
Results:
The mean correlation coefficient between the 'fingerprint region' (wavenumbers 925-1582 cm-1 ) and the SCS was higher than that for other regions of the MIR spectrum, and the specific wavenumber with the strongest correlation with the SCS was within the 'fingerprint region'. SCC class had a significant (p < 0.05) effect on 639 spectral wavenumbers. In particular, some spectral wavenumbers within the 'fingerprint region' were highly affected by the SCC class.
Limitation:
The data were collected from only one province in China, so the generalisability of the findings may be limited.
Conclusion:
SCC had close relationships with milk spectral wavenumbers related to important milk components or chemical bonds.
