What is milk urea?
Milk urea is a nitrogen compound in milk that is related to the amount of urea circulating in the blood and affected by the amount of protein eaten by the animal. The digestion of nitrogen and protein in the rumen releases ammonia. If a diet has excess rumen degradable protein, excess ammonia is produced. Urea is produced in the liver from ammonia derived mainly from the breakdown of protein in the rumen and from normal daily metabolism of absorbed amino acids and body protein. The body excretes blood urea in urine and milk. Urea nitrogen (N) levels in blood plasma, blood serum and milk of an individual cow are highly related. Therefore, milk urea nitrogen (MUN) values are representative of urea levels of blood and other body fluids.
Why should we test milk urea?
We should test milk urea because it can be used to monitor protein status of cows and improve the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis, which may reduce N excretion into the environment. MUN can also help to identify any additions of urea in milk, introduced in order to increase, fraudulently, the protein content of milk4. MUN can also indicate the risk of subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA), a digestive disorder that affects dairy cows.
What are the methods for milk urea testing?
There are various methods to test milk urea, such as chemical reactions, enzymatic assays, chromatography, spectrophotometry, and biosensors. Some simple tests at home can also detect the presence of urea in milk, such as adding soybean meal or sulphuric acid to milk and observing the color change.
The Ringbio milk urea rapid test strip is an enzymatic assay based strip kit for the fast detection of urea in milk in 60 seconds. The whole operation is quite simple. Just dip the strip into milk for 3 seconds. Take out and then shake off the excessive liquid, wait for 60 seconds and then determine the result according to the color pad provided in the kit.
According to Ringbio technical team, this kit can detect urea from 0 - 400 mg/L, the result can be qualitative or semi-quantitative. No instrument or extra devices are needed.
Ringbio also has a series of related product for chemical testing in milk, such as
- Nitrite Rapid Test Strip
- Nitrate Rapid Test Strip
- Peroxide Rapid Test Strip
- Peracetic Acid Rapid Test Strip
- Alkaline Phosphatase ALP Rapid Test Strip
To learn more information about this milk urea rapid test strip, please contact [email protected]
