A new approach to fast mastitis detection for improved milk quality monitoring

摘要

Udder health greatly influences the economics of dairy farms. Hence, to ensure the requested hygienic status of the milk fast and reliable methods for online measurement of relevant infections are required. Mastitis is an important udder disease of dairy cows which leads to reduced milk quality and high economic losses. Increasing somatic cell count of milk is an indicator for udder infections and is used for monitoring udder health and milk quality. Somatic cell count is conventionally determined bythe Fossomatic method. Foremilk of healthy and inflammed udder quarters was measured by Coulter Counter. Foremilk samples from infected cows showed an increase in cell count at particle sizes between 7 and 20 um with formation of a peak between 8 and 12um. Depending on the number of somatic cells the peak occurs at 8, 10 or 12 um. Also for a slight increase of somatic cell count between 104 and 105 cells/mL the formation of a small peak was detected. The study clearly indicates the potential of usinga Coulter Counter to determine the somatic cell count within a short time. From fast measurement techniques important data can be derived regarding safety monitoring and quality control in milking processes.