On-line Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Sensing Techniques for Assessing Milk Quality in Automatic Milking Systems

Written for presentation at the 2004 ASAE/CSAE Annual International Meeting Sponsored by ASAE/CSAE
We constructed an on-line near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic sensing system on an experimental basis. The sensing system enables NIR spectra of unhomogenized milk to be obtained in automatic milking systems over a wavelength range of 600 nm to 1050 nm. Calibration models for determining three major milk constituents (fat, protein and lactose), somatic cell count (SCC) and milk urea nitrogen (MUN) of unhomogenized milk were developed, and the precision and accuracy of the models were validated. The coefficient of determination (r2) and standard error of prediction (SEP) of the validation set for fat were 0.95 and 0.27%, respectively. The values of r2 and SEP for protein were 0.72 and 0.15%, those for lactose were 0.85 and 0.18%, those for SCC were 0.62 and 0.32 log SCC/mL, and those for MUN were 0.68 and 2.08 mg/dL, respectively. These results indicate that the NIR sensing system developed in this study could be used to assess milk quality in real time in automatic milking systems. The system can provide dairy farmers with information on milk quality and physiological condition of individual cows and therefore give them feedback control for optimizing dairy farm management. By using the system dairy farmers will be able to produce high-quality milk and dairy precision farming will be realized