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This research communication explores the value of routinely collected bulk tank milk quality data for estimating dairy cattle welfare at herd level. Selected bulk tank milk quality parameters (somatic cell count, total bacterial count, urea, protein and fat contents) recorded during the years 2014-2016 in 287 Italian dairy farms were compared with the animal welfare data of each farm. The welfare assessment data were extracted from the database of the Italian Reference Centre for Animal Welfare (CReNBA), which includes the outputs of the application of the CReNBA welfare assessment protocol for dairy cows, used at national level for on-farm controls. The statistical analysis was carried out using the correlation coefficient for Kendall's Tau ranks, in order to investigate the presence of a categoric relationship between the selected bulk tank milk quality parameters and the overall animal welfare score or the scores of the single areas A (farm management and staff training), B (housing) and C (animal-based measures). Somatic cell count, total bacterial count, urea and proteins demonstrated only a few statistically significant and very weak correlations with farm animal welfare data, while no significant correlations were obtained for milk fat content. Given the weak correlations found, the selected bulk tank milk parameters seems to be able to provide only limited information about the welfare level of the herd, thus it could be difficult to use them for drawing up a pre-screening model for identifying herds at risk of poor welfare.

Delvotest® T was evaluated for its capability at detecting residues of 27 antibiotics in raw cow's milk and in some dairy ingredients (skimmed and full-cream milk powders). The kit was used as a screening tool for the qualitative determination of antibiotics from different families in a single test. Results delivered by such a method are expressed as 'positive' or 'negative', referring to the claimed screening target concentration (STC). Validation was conducted according to the European Community Reference Laboratories' (CRLs) residues guidelines of 20 January 2010 and performed by two laboratories, one located in Europe and the other in Asia. Five criteria were evaluated including detection capability at STC, false-positive (FP) rate, false-negative (FN) rate, robustness and cross-reactivity using visual reading and Delvoscan®. STCs were set at or below the corresponding maximum residue limit (MRL), as fixed by European Regulation EC No. 37/2010. Four antibiotics (nafcillin, oxytetracycline, tetracycline and rifaximin) out of 27 had a false-negative rate ranging from 1.7% to 4.9%; however, it was still compliant with the CRLs' requirements. Globally, Delvotest T can be recommended for the analysis of the surveyed antibiotics in raw cow's milk, skimmed and full-cream milk powders. Additional compounds were tested such as sulfamethazine, spiramycin and erythromycin; however, detection at the corresponding MRL was not achievable and these compounds were removed from the validation. Other drugs from the sulfonamide, aminoglycoside or macrolide families not detected by the test at the MRL were not evaluated in this study. Regarding the reliability of this rapid test to milk-based preparations, additional experiments should be performed on a larger range of compounds and samples to validate the Delvotest T in such matrices.