Association between Somatic Cell Count, Electric Conductivity and pH in Diagnosis of Subclinical Mastitis in Crossbred Cows

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to determine the relation between somatic cell count (SCC), Electrical conductivity (EC) and pH of milk for diagnosis of subclinical (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM). For this a total of 120 samples were collected from crossbred cows of organised and norganised dairy farms for determination of EC, SCC and pH. On the basis of SCC, the cows were categorized as healthy(SCC below 2×105 per ml), subclinical mastitis (SCC in the range 2×105 - 3×105 per ml)and mastitis(SCC more than 3×105 per ml).The values of milk SCC and EC were significantly (P less than 0.05) higher in crossbred cows having subclinical and clinical mastitis. Milk pH ranged from 6.48 to 6.62 in healthy and subclinical cases,whereas pH 7.03 was observed in clinical mastitis cases. There was a significant positive correlation (P less than 0.05) between SCC, EC and milk pH.