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A face mask sampling device, DVB/Carboxen/PDMS 50/30 µm solid phase microextraction (SPME) fibers, and a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometer detector (GCMS) were used for sampling and analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in bovine breath. Breath of 3 morbid steers with respiratory tract infections and 3 healthy steers were sampled 7 times in 19 days for 15 min at each sampling. A total of 21 VOCs were detected, many of them for the first time in cattle breath. Preliminary statistical analyses using Chi-square Test on the frequency of detection of each VOC in each group was performed. The presence of acetaldehyde (P = 0.05) and decanal (P = 0.10) were associated more with clinically morbid steers while methyl acetate, heptane, octanal, 2,3-butadione, hexanoic acid, and phenol were associated with healthy steers at P = 0.1. The results suggest that noninvasive heath screening using breath analyses could become a useful diagnostic tool for detecting sick and healthy cattle.

An experiment was conducted to examine the feasibility of detecting unique volatile organic biomarkers exhaled by healthy and morbid heifer calves on-site using noninvasive sampling with solid phase microextraction (SPME) and analysis with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Two heifers were selected on the bases of health status and were sampled from 5 to 15 min with a special facemask sampling system using DVB/Carboxen/PDMS 50/30 µm and PDMS 100 µm SPME fibers. The samples were sealed and transported to the laboratory and analyzed with ion trap GC-MS. Acetone, methyl ethyl ketone, toluene, pentadecane, and nonanal were detected in cattle breath. Tetradecane and decanal were detected in the breath of the sick heifer only. Detector responses to breath VOCs were generally higher for the morbid heifer than the healthy one. Longer extraction time (15 min) resulted in larger detector responses and greater number of compounds detected compared to the short sampling time (5 min). A simple sampling system, combined with SPME-based sampling and analysis with GC-MS was very useful for the detection of bovine breath and ruminal gases. DVB/Carboxen/PDMS 50/30 µm coating, Teflon caps, and sample refrigeration worked well for sample preservation and retention of compounds found in breath samples. SPMEbased sampling of animal breath has the potential of being used as a rapid, non-invasive on-site diagnostic and research tool for cattle producers, veterinarians, and researchers.