Preliminary investigation of breath sampling as a monitor of health in dairy cattle

Abstract A nasal breath sampling device was developed for use with dairy cattle. This device was tested as a means of supplying breath for analysis by a gas sensor array, gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, and Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer. Concentrations of methane, dimethyl sulphide, butan-2-one, and propanone (acetone) in cow nasal breath, under field conditions, are reported for the first time, and were detected 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 analysed using chemometric techniques. Breath samples were successfully classified in terms of known input odours by referencing to serum 3-hydroxybutanoate (β-HB) concentrations. These preliminary breath odour sensing studies suggest that it may be possible to discriminate between healthy cows and cows with ketosis by developing an application-specific electronic nose (ASEN) and sampler.