Livestock Production Management Division, ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana, 132001, India.
J Therm Biol. 2024 Aug;124:103947. doi: 10.1016/j.jtherbio.2024.103947. Epub 2024 Aug 9.
Sub-clinical mastitis exhibits a higher prevalence in dairy goats than clinical mastitis, necessitating the adoption of non-invasive diagnostic techniques such as infrared thermography (IRT) to detect this economically significant production disease in the dairy sector. Accordingly, this study aims to employ IR imaging of the udder and teat quarters of lactating crossbred goats (Alpine × Beetal and Sanen × Beetal) across various seasons, utilising IRT, to discern cases of sub-clinical (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM). Over a year, 100-110 lactating crossbred dairy goats underwent consistent IRT screenings, followed by a comprehensive evaluation of udder health status using the California mastitis test and somatic cell count (SCC). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to establish the cut-off values for different thermographic parameters in this study. The results revealed that the SCC increased significantly (p < 0.01) in healthy, SCM, and CM milk samples across the seasons. The analysis of ROC revealed a comparatively higher sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for udder thermograms during SCM than CM and vice versa for teat thermograms. IRT analysis reflected a difference (p < 0.01) in the udder and teat thermograms among quarters of healthy, SCM, and CM in summer, winter, autumn, and rainy seasons. A significant increase (p < 0.01) in udder thermograms was observed for quarters affected with SCM and CM relative to healthy, with an increase of 1.89 and 2.94 °C in winter, 0.85 and 1.63 °C in summer, 0.73 and 1.41 °C in rainy, and 1.33 and 2.38 °C in autumn, respectively. Similarly, for teat thermograms it was 1.79 and 2.81 °C in winter, 0.76 and 1.41 °C in summer, 0.70 and 1.37 °C in rainy, and 1.09 and 1.93 °C in autumn, respectively. Therefore, regardless of the seasons examined in this study, IRT proves to be an effective and supportive tool for early mastitis detection in lactating crossbred dairy goats.
隐性乳腺炎在奶山羊中的发病率高于临床型乳腺炎，因此需要采用非侵入性诊断技术，如红外热成像（IRT）来检测这种在奶业中具有重要经济意义的生产疾病。因此，本研究旨在利用 IRT 对泌乳期杂交奶山羊（阿尔卑斯奶山羊×努比亚奶山羊和萨能奶山羊×努比亚奶山羊）的乳房和乳头进行成像，以区分隐性乳腺炎（SCM）和临床型乳腺炎（CM）病例。在一年的时间里，对 100-110 头泌乳期杂交奶山羊进行了持续的 IRT 筛查，然后使用加利福尼亚乳房炎测试和体细胞计数（SCC）对乳房健康状况进行全面评估。本研究采用受试者工作特征（ROC）分析来确定不同热成像参数的截断值。结果表明，在不同季节，健康、SCM 和 CM 乳样的 SCC 均显著增加（p<0.01）。ROC 分析表明，SCM 期的乳房热图具有较高的敏感性、特异性和准确性，而 CM 期的乳头热图则相反。IRT 分析反映了夏季、冬季、秋季和雨季健康、SCM 和 CM 乳房和乳头 quarters 之间的热图存在差异（p<0.01）。与健康 quarters 相比，SCM 和 CM quarters 的乳房和乳头热图均有显著升高（p<0.01），冬季分别升高 1.89 和 2.94°C，夏季升高 0.85 和 1.63°C，雨季升高 0.73 和 1.41°C，秋季升高 1.33 和 2.38°C。类似地，对于 teat thermograms，冬季为 1.79 和 2.81°C，夏季为 0.76 和 1.41°C，雨季为 0.70 和 1.37°C，秋季为 1.09 和 1.93°C。因此，无论本研究中检查的季节如何，IRT 都被证明是一种有效的早期检测泌乳期杂交奶山羊乳腺炎的工具。
