Lactoferrin content determined in bovine milk by HPLC and mid-infrared spectrometry - Relation to udder health and potential for detection of milk adulteration

Hana Nejeschlebová, Oto Hanuš, Klára Bartáková, Craig Parsons, Eva Samková, Lenka Vorlová, Gavin Thompson, Lucie Hasoňová, Roman Konečný, Pavlína Navrátilová and Marcela Klimešová
Additional contact information
Hana Nejeschlebová: Dairy Research Institute Ltd., Prague, Czech Republic
Oto Hanuš: Dairy Research Institute Ltd., Prague, Czech Republic
Klára Bartáková: Department of Animal Origin Food and Gastronomic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
Craig Parsons: Bentley Instruments, Inc., Chaska, Minnesota, USA
Eva Samková: Department of Food Biotechnologies and Agricultural Products' Quality, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Lenka Vorlová: Department of Animal Origin Food and Gastronomic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
Gavin Thompson: Bentley Czech Ltd., Prague, Czech Republic
Lucie Hasoňová: Department of Food Biotechnologies and Agricultural Products' Quality, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Roman Konečný: Department of Animal Husbandry Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Technology, University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
Pavlína Navrátilová: Department of Animal Origin Food and Gastronomic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Hygiene and Ecology, University of Veterinary Sciences Brno, Brno, Czech Republic
Marcela Klimešová: Dairy Research Institute Ltd., Prague, Czech Republic

Czech Journal of Animal Science, 2025, vol. 70, issue 11, 467-479

Abstract: Lactoferrin (LF) is a multifunctional glycoprotein linked to udder health in dairy cows. This study aimed to develop a calibration model for LF quantification using mid-infrared spectrometry (MIR-FT), with ion-pair reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as the reference method. Two sets of individual milk samples (A: n = 120; B: n = 91) were collected from five dairy farms in the Czech Republic. Set A included a higher proportion of samples with somatic cell count (SCC) above 300 000 cells/ml to ensure broad LF variability. After merging both sets and removing six outliers, a final calibration set C (n = 205) was created. The developed model achieved a cross-validated coefficient of determination of 0.588 7 and a standard error of cross-validation of 67.33 mg/l. Correlation analysis showed that several milk parameters correlated with LF determined by MIR-FT in patterns typical of mastitis (SCC: r = 0.450; lactose: r = -0.364; free fatty acids: r = 0.621; electrical conductivity: r = 0.442), indicating potential for MIR-FT in evaluating mammary gland health. The feasibility of using LF as an indicator of milk adulteration by artificial SCC reduction through centrifugation was also assessed. Two sample sets (n = 20 and n = 68) were analysed, each containing normal bulk tank milk and bulk tank milk supplemented with abnormal milk. Centrifugation caused minimal changes in LF determined by both HPLC and MIR-FT (maximum 3.27%) while SCC decreased by nearly 50%, suggesting that LF may serve as a marker for detecting artificial SCC reduction. However, practical application of MIR-FT for accurate LF determination is limited by the achieved validation parameters and the high expanded uncertainty (114.7 mg/l). The method is therefore more suitable for monitoring relative LF changes in milk than for determining exact LF content.

Keywords: calibration model; dairy cow; mastitis; milk centrifugation; milk composition; somatic cell count (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/114/2025-CJAS.html (text/html)
http://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/114/2025-CJAS.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlcjs:v:70:y:2025:i:11:id:114-2025-cjas

DOI: 10.17221/114/2025-CJAS

Access Statistics for this article

Czech Journal of Animal Science is currently edited by Bc. Michaela Polcarová

More articles in Czech Journal of Animal Science from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().