An Assessment of the Accuracy of Digital and Optical Brix Refractometers for Estimating Passive Immunity in Beef Calves

Year 2022, Volume: 62 Issue: 2, 92 - 100, 29.12.2022

Mehmet Akköse , Ceyhan Özbeyaz

https://doi.org/10.46897/livestockstudies.1222935

Abstract

This study was aimed at determining and comparing the diagnostic accuracy of digital and optical Brix refractometers (D-Brix and O-Brix, respectively) for the estimation of passive immunity status (<16 and <24g/L) in beef calves. Blood was sampled from 163 one to seven-day-old calves. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations were estimated with D-Brix and O-Brix refractometers, and measured by the radial immunodiffusion (RID) assay used as the reference test. Correlation coefficients (r) were calculated for the results of each method. Youden’s J-index was used to select optimal refractometer cut-off values for estimating IgG of <16 and <24 g/L. Overall test performance and refractometer agreement were assessed using AUCs, diagnostic test accuracy, Cohen's kappa coefficient (κ), and Bland-Altman analysis. Positive correlations existed between the RID-IgG concentrations and Brix percentages (r=0.903 for D-Brix, r=0.885 for O-Brix), and between the results of the two refractometers (r=0.992). The overall test performances of the refractometers were excellent (AUC>0.90). For predicting serum IgG concentrations of <16 and <24 g/L, the optimal cut-off values were <8.3% and <9.4% for the O-Brix refractometer, and 8.4% and 9.6% for the D-Brix refractometer, respectively. At the optimal thresholds for estimating serum IgG concentrations of <16 g/L, the sensitivity and specificity were 91.89% and 97.62% for the D-Brix refractometer, and 91.89% and 96.83% for the O-Brix refractometer, respectively. At the optimal thresholds for estimating serum IgG concentrations of <24 g/L, the sensitivity and specificity were 88.14% and 80.77% for the D-Brix refractometer, and 86.44% and 80.77% for the O-Brix refractometer, respectively. Cohen’s kappa coefficients suggested an almost perfect agreement between the results of the two refractometers for the estimation of IgG of <16 (κ=0.90) and <24 g/L (κ=0.86). In conclusion, digital and optical Brix refractometers could be safely used as monitoring tools for assessing passive immunity status in neonatal beef calves.

Keywords

Beef calf, Brix, Optic, Digital, Passive immunity

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