Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Introduction Near−infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has potential for on−farm milk assessment; however, the performance of miniaturised sensors for biologically meaningful markers remains underexplored. This study aimed to benchmark a miniaturised NIR sensor against established NIRS techniques and to evaluate its capacity to assess the concentration of de novo fatty acids in milk of individual dairy cows. Methods Five spectroscopic systems differing in spectral resolution and measurement mode were compared using liquid milk samples with reference values obtained by Mid-InfraRed (MIR) and Gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) analyses. Results and discussion All systems showed excellent performance for predicting total fat and total solids compared to MIR, with the miniaturised sensor achieving accuracy comparable to benchtop and handheld instruments. The predicted de novo fatty acid concentrations closely followed the measured trends obtained by GC-FID at both herd and individual level, despite seasonal bias. Overall, the results demonstrate that miniaturised NIR sensors provide a robust, cost−effective pathway for on−farm monitoring of milk components that have been linked to metabolic stress indicators.
Dixit et al. (Fri,) studied this question.