Serum Vitamin A Level Measurement in Beef Cattle Using Ultraviolet Camera

Abstract

Serum Vitamin A level is important indication to control the beef quality in Japan. The beef quality depends on serum vitamin A (VA) level. From 16 months to 24 months, serum VA level should be maintained low level and kept at about 30 IU/dl to produce the high quality meat.It is need to control serum VA level without cattle diseases. Generally, serum vitamin A level is mainly detected by blood assay. However, it is time-consuming, expensive, and stressful to the cattle. Therefore, a non-invasive, rapid, and simple method for monitoring serum VA level is desirable to produce the high quality beef. In the previous study, pupil reflection was related to the serum VA level. The photosensitive pigment rhodopsin related to serum VA has an absorption about 380nm, so it would appear that there is the relationship between pupil reflection in 375nm-wavelength and VA level in blood. The objective of this study was to predict serum VA level with pupil reflection using ultraviolet (UV) camera. Materials were eye balls from 32 live Japanese black cattle and 22 slaughtered cattle. The positive correlation between pupil reflection and VA level was observed in live cattle, whereas the negative correlation between tapetum reflection and VA level in slaughtered cattle was found. These results suggested that LED light doesn’t reach tapetum and it seems to be difficult to get the tapetum information from pupil images.