Bacterial presence and fertility in subclinical endometritic buffaloes at oestrus

Abstract

Study evaluated the diagnosis of subclinical endometritis (SCE) at the time of oestrus in relation to uterine bacterial contamination and fertility in buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis). Normal cyclic healthy buffaloes (115) presented for insemination at spontaneous oestrus were diagnosed (by endometrial cytology) for SCE and divided into control (<5% PMN) and SCE (≥5% PMNs) groups. The prevalence of 22.61% for SCE was recorded. Significantly higher proportion of buffaloes were infected in SCE (65.4 vs 21.3%) than in control group. The seven different bacteria (Staphylococcus spp., Bacillus spp., Proteus spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella spp., Streptococcus spp. and Pseudomonas spp.) in both the groups with T. pyogenes only in SCE group were isolated. The presence of SCE as well as bacteria recorded a detrimental effect on fertility, with significantly lower conception rate (23.08 vs 37.08%) in SCE and tendency for higher number of services per conception in buffaloes with infected uteri, compared to their healthy counterparts. A differential trend for antibiotic sensitivity to the bacterial isolates was recorded.