Relationship between milk CIE (L*a*b*) colour and somatic cell count in goats

Abstract

Two hundred goat milk samples were used in the present study to determinate the relationship between milk CIE colour (L*a*b*) and somatic cell count (SCC). 100 ml of samples were obtained from two hundred Majorera goats by machine milking. After that samples were measured for colour (Minolta CR-200) and for SCC (DCC, Delaval) and a stepwise regression was performed. When SCC was expressed as total cells per ml, the r square was 0.395 including in regression only the Croma parameter, r square increased to 0.508 using in the regression L*, a*, b*, and Croma parameters. If SCC was expressed as Log SCC, r square values were lower. Samples with high SCC (more than 4 million) presented higher r square than samples with low SCC (less than 0.5 million). XXIII