Seasonal assessment of mastitis using thermogram analysis in Sahiwal cows

India is the world's leading producer of milk and demands a non-invasive diagnostic tool like infrared thermography (IRT) to identify the costliest production disease, mastitis. It can form the basis of precision dairy farming. Therefore, the present study focuses on thermal imaging of the udder and teat quarters of Sahiwal cows during different seasons to identify subclinical (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM) cases using the Darvi DTL007 camera. A total of 24-69 lactating Sahiwal cows were screened out using IRT regularly throughout the year. The intramammary infection status was further assessed using the CMT. The receiver operating characteristic analysis was carried out to develop the current study's cut-off for various thermographic parameters. The incidence for SCM and CM ranged from 26.47 to 38.75% and 17.83-22.79%, respectively during different seasons in Sahiwal udder quarters. The thermogram analysis revealed a significant difference (p < 0.01) in the mean values of the udder and teat surface temperature of Sahiwal cows between healthy, SCM, and CM during different seasons. The mean values of udder skin surface temperature (USST) during different seasons ranged between 29.07 and 36.91 degrees C, 31.51 to 37.88 degrees C and 32.42 to 38.79 degrees C among healthy, SCM, and CM-affected quarters, and correspondingly, the mean values of teat skin surface temperature (TSST) were 28.28 to 36.77 degrees C, 30.68 to 37.88 degrees C and 31.70 to 38.73 degrees C, respectively. Further results revealed an increase (p < 0.01) in the mean values of USST during winter, summer, rainy, and autumn as 2.44, 3.35; 0.97, 1.88; 1.06, 1.83; 1.29, 2.39 degrees C and TSST as 2.4, 3.42; 1.11, 1.96; 1.21, 2.19, 1.3, 2.4 degrees C of SCM, CM-affected quarters to healthy quarters, respectively, in Sahiwal cows. Thermograms showed a strong positive correlation with the CMT scores of SCM, CM cases, and healthy samples. Henceforth, irrespective of the seasons studied in the present work, IRT is an efficient, supportive tool for the early identification of subclinical mastitis.

Automated summary

This study used infrared thermography (IRT) to identify mastitis in Sahiwal cows. The results showed significant differences in the mean values of udder and teat surface temperature between healthy, subclinical mastitis (SCM), and clinical mastitis (CM) cases during different seasons. IRT is an efficient tool for the early identification of subclinical mastitis.