DiLeo C, Basran P S, Porter I R, Wieland M
College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
Department of Clinical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
JDS Commun. 2022 Feb 10;3(2):142-146. doi: 10.3168/jdsc.2021-0181. eCollection 2022 Mar.
Much research has been done to develop methods to assess dimensional teat traits in dairy cows. In contrast, diagnostic techniques to reliably assess the circulatory system of teats are limited. Infrared thermography facilitates measurements of skin temperature and could be used to detect physiological and pathological changes to the teat tissue associated with machine milking, as temperature reflects the underlying blood circulation and tissue metabolism. Our objective was to develop and evaluate a scanning technique to quantify teat skin temperature in dairy cows using infrared thermography. Using a portable thermography camera, 2 operators obtained duplicate scans of both hind teats from 20 Holstein cows, resulting in 80 thermographic images (20 cows × 2 operators × 2 images). Average teat skin temperatures at the proximal, middle, and distal teat aspects were determined. We used Pearson correlation coefficients (r), intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and concordance correlation coefficients (CCC) to assess interoperator reproducibility (i.e., agreement between measurements performed by different operators) and intraoperator repeatability (i.e., agreement between measurements performed by the same operator). Pearson correlation coefficients revealed a very strong correlation for measurements at the proximal, middle, and distal aspects of the teat, respectively, between operators (r ≥0.95) and duplicate scans (r ≥0.94) within operators. Intraclass correlation coefficients and CCC indicated excellent interoperator reproducibility (ICC ≥0.95, CCC ≥0.95) and excellent intraoperator repeatability (ICC ≥0.94, CCC ≥0.94), respectively, for measurements at all 3 aspects. Least squares means (95% confidence interval) for average teat skin temperatures at the proximal, middle, and distal teat aspects, respectively, were 33.2 (32.6-33.8), 32.4 (31.5-33.2), and 30.9 (29.8-32.0) °C for operator 1, and 33.2 (32.6-33.8), 32.4 (31.6-33.3), and 31.0 (29.9-32.0) °C for operator 2. Average temperatures between duplicate scans within operators at the proximal, middle, and distal aspects, respectively, were 33.3 (32.7-33.9), 32.5 (31.7-33.3), and 31.0 (29.9-32.1) °C for the first scan and 33.2 (32.6-33.8), 32.3 (31.5-33.1), and 30.8 (29.7-31.9) °C for the second scan. We conclude that infrared thermography facilitates precise measurements of skin temperatures of cows' hind teats.
为开发评估奶牛乳头尺寸性状的方法已开展了大量研究。相比之下，可靠评估乳头循环系统的诊断技术却很有限。红外热成像技术有助于测量皮肤温度，并且可用于检测与机械挤奶相关的乳头组织的生理和病理变化，因为温度反映了潜在的血液循环和组织代谢。我们的目标是开发并评估一种利用红外热成像技术量化奶牛乳头皮肤温度的扫描技术。使用一台便携式热成像相机，2名操作人员对20头荷斯坦奶牛的两个后乳头进行了重复扫描，共获得80张热成像图像（20头奶牛×2名操作人员×2张图像）。测定了乳头近端、中部和远端的平均乳头皮肤温度。我们使用皮尔逊相关系数（r）、组内相关系数（ICC）和一致性相关系数（CCC）来评估不同操作人员之间的可重复性（即不同操作人员所做测量之间的一致性）和同一操作人员内部的重复性（即同一操作人员所做测量之间的一致性）。皮尔逊相关系数显示，在乳头的近端、中部和远端测量中，操作人员之间（r≥0.95）以及同一操作人员内部的重复扫描之间（r≥0.94）均呈现出非常强的相关性。组内相关系数和CCC分别表明，在所有三个部位的测量中，不同操作人员之间具有出色的可重复性（ICC≥0.95，CCC≥0.95），同一操作人员内部具有出色的重复性（ICC≥0.94，CCC≥0.94）。操作人员1在乳头近端、中部和远端的平均乳头皮肤温度的最小二乘均值（95%置信区间）分别为33.2（32.6 - 33.8）、32.4（31.5 - 33.2）和30.9（29.8 - 32.0）℃，操作人员2分别为33.2（
