PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF BREATH SAMPLING AS A MONITOR OF HEALTH IN DAIRY-CATTLE

A nasal breath sampling device was developed for use with dairy cattle . This device was tested as a means of supplying breath for analysis b y a gas sensor array, gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer. Concentrations of methane, dime thyl sulphide, butan-2-one, and propanone (acetone) in cow nasal breat h, under field conditions, are reported for the first time, and were d etected at 70-1000 p.p.m., 80-100 p.p.m., 70-80 p.p.m., and 1-10 p.p.m ., respectively. The output from a six-element gas sensor array was an alysed using chemometric techniques. Breath samples were successfully classified in terms of known input odours by referencing to serum 3-hy droxybutanoate (beta-HB) concentrations. These preliminary breath odou r sensing studies suggest that it may be possible to discriminate betw een healthy cows and cows with ketosis by developing an application-sp ecific electronic nose (ASEN) and sampler. (C) 1997 Silsoe Research In stitute.