Screening of dairy cows for ketosis by use of infrared spectroscopy and multivariate calibration

A fast and inexpensive method of screening ketosis in cows is presented. Th is method is based on the determination of acetone in bovine milk by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with multivariate calibrat ion. Only samples with a naturally increased acetone content could be used in the calibration step; samples containing added acetone did not produce a n acceptable calibration equation. On test samples ranging from 0.0 to 2.8 mM acetone, an R-2 Of 0.81 and an accuracy (root mean square error of predi ction) of 0.27 mM were obtained. This accuracy was sufficient to classify t he cows into two groups: healthy and possibly ketotic. No false negatives w ere determined for the present data set.