Electronic nose differentiates pre- and postchallenge samples in an induced bovine respiratory disease model

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is the most common disease challenge in feedlot cattle. Visual observation, with or with­out body temperature, continues to be the standard method of BRD diagnosis, although previous studies have shown a poor correlation between trained observers and actual lung lesions at slaughter, indicating there is room for improvement in ante­mortem BRD diagnosis. Several chute-side diagnostic tools have been developed and tested for the diagnosis of BRD, but many lack adequate sensitivity or practicality for widespread use in cattle feeding operations. The current study evaluated the Cyranose 320 electronic nose (eNose) (Sensigent, CA) for the detection of BRD in cattle from respiratory samples (expired air and nasal swabs), following an experimentally induced challenge with bovine herpesvi­rus-1 (BHV-1) and Mannheimia haemolytica. The use of eNose technology has proven effective for the diagnosis of certain in­flammatory and infectious diseases in human and veterinary medicine; however, its use as a chute-side diagnostic tool for BRD remains unproven. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of the Cyranose 320 eNose for the diagnosis of BRD in cattle.