Assessment of bovine milk fatty acids using miniaturised near infrared spectrophotometer

Assessment of milk fatty acids has been proposed to support farm management practices including adjustment of feeding regimes and monitoring animal status. This study assessed the performance of a miniaturised near infrared (NIR) sensor for assessment of fatty acids in milk. Samples (n = 483) were from 114 farms, varying in lactation stages within two production seasons and included different dairy breeds. The fatty acids (C4:0, C6:0, C14:0, C16:0, C18:1 c9, SFA, MUFA, SCFA, BCFA) showed Ratio of performance to deviation values higher than two. The performance was equivalent to other independent studies utilising NIR. However, in this study, we used a low-cost NIR spectrophotometer suitable for on-the-farm use.