A Potential Application of Infrared Thermography (IRT) in Mediterranean Lactating Buffalo

Skin temperature is an important indicator of the physical and healthy status of animals. Infrared thermography (IRT) leads itself to countless applications in biology thanks to its characteristics of versatility and high sensitivity. Contactless surface temperature measurement using infrared thermography is a modern, noninvasive and safe technique of thermal profile visualization. IRT has also been used on humans and animals as a non-invasive diagnostic method for measuring physiological or pathological changes in skin temperature. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibilities of using IRT to assess the temperatures of the udder in order to a possible early diagnosis of mastitis in lactating buffalo. For the achievement of broached objectives, the measurements were carried out in a zootechnical farm located in Southern Italy. The number of lactating buffalo cows engaged in the udder experiment was 192. A FLIR i7 thermal imaging scanner was used for obtaining thermal images. Milk samples were taken on the same day as thermographic measurements after capturing thermal images. The PROCMEANS procedure was used to obtain the descriptive statistics for SCC and temperature in all category. The correlation between temperature and different categories of SCC was significantly positive. The relationship between SCC and temperature was indicated by an exponential equation [y = 35.77 (0.00024 * x)]; R2 = 0.640; <0.001]. The results suggested that thermography can be used for early detection of subclinical mastitis in buffalo.