Appropriate Data Quality Checks Improve the Reliability of Values Predicted from Milk Mid-Infrared Spectra

The use of abnormal milk mid-infrared (MIR) spectrum strongly affects prediction quality, even if the prediction equations used are accurate. So, this record must be detected after or before the prediction process to avoid erroneous spectral extrapolation or the use of poor-quality spectral data by dairy herd improvement (DHI) organizations. For financial or practical reasons, adapting the quality protocol currently used to improve the accuracy of fat and protein contents is unfeasible. This study proposed three different statistical methods that would be easy to implement by DHI organizations to solve this issue: the deletion of 1% of the extreme high and low predictive values (M1), the deletion of records based on the Global-H (GH) distance (M2), and the deletion of records based on the absolute fat residual value (M3). Additionally, the combinations of these three methods were investigated. A total of 346,818 milk samples were analyzed by MIR spectrometry to predict the contents of fat, protein, and fatty acids. Then, the same traits were also predicted externally using their corresponded standardized MIR spectra. The interest in cleaning procedures was assessed by estimating the root mean square differences (RMSDs) between those internal and external predicted phenotypes. All methods allowed for a decrease in the RMSD, with a gain ranging from 0.32% to 41.39%. Based on the obtained results, the “M1 and M2” combination should be preferred to be more parsimonious in the data loss, as it had the higher ratio of RMSD gain to data loss. This method deleted the records based on the 2% extreme predictions and a GH threshold set at 5. However, to ensure the lowest RMSD, the “M2 or M3” combination, considering a GH threshold of 5 and an absolute fat residual difference set at 0.30 g/dL of milk, was the most relevant. Both combinations involved M2 confirming the high interest of calculating the GH distance for all samples to predict. However, if it is impossible to estimate the GH distance due to a lack of relevant information to compute this statistical parameter, the obtained results recommended the use of M1 combined with M3. The limitation used in M3 must be adapted by the DHI, as this will depend on the spectral data and the equation used. The methodology proposed in this study can be generalized for other MIR-based phenotypes.