Crowd monitoring in dairy cattle —real-time VOC profiling by direct mass spectrometry

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from breath, faeces or skin may reflect physiological and
pathological processes in vivo . Our setup employs real-time proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight
mass spectrometry (PTR-TOF-MS) to explore VOC emissions of dairy cows in stable air under field
conditions. Within one herd of 596 cows, seven groups (8 –117 cows per group) were assessed. Groups
differed in milk yield and health status (two contained cows with paratuberculosis, a chronic
intestinal infection). Each group arrived one after another in the area of air measurement in front
of the milking parlour. A customised PTR-TOF-MS system with a 6 m long and heated transfer line, was
used for measuring VOCs continuously for 7 h, 1.5 m above the cows. Three consecutive time periods
were investigated. Twenty-seven VOCs increased while the animals were gathering in the waiting area,
and decreased when the animals entered the milking parlour. Linear correlations between the numb...

Source: Journal of Breath Research - July 9, 2019 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Peter Gierschner, Anne K üntzel, Petra Reinhold, Heike Köhler, Jochen K Schubert and Wolfram Miekisch Source Type: research