Abstract
A cross sectional study was carried out from November 2008 to April 2009 to estimate prevalence of mastitis and to see associated bacterial pathogens in lactating dairy cows in Holeta town. A total of 107 cross bred milking cows were tested using California Mastitis Test (CMT). Prevalence of mastitis at cow level was 71.0% (76/107), out of which 22.4% (24/107) and 48.6% (52/107) were clinical and subclinical, respectively. The quarter level prevalence was 44.9% (192/428); from this the clinical and subclinical forms were 10.0% (43/428) and 34.8% (149/428), respectively. Out of the 43 quarters with clinical cases, 31 had blind teats while 12 of them revealed active cases of mastitis. Samples from all 12 active clinical cases and 90.0% (134/149) of the CMT positive subclinical quarters were found to be culture positive. From 146 culture positive samples, a total of 153 bacteria were isolated, the most prevalent being S. aureus (47.1%) followed by Coagulase negative Staphylococcus (CNS) (30.1%). Other bacterial isolates included Streptococcus (7.2%), E.coli (4.6%), Micrococcus species (3.3%), Klebsella pneumonae (3.3%), Enterobater aerogen (1.3%), Corynebacterium species (2.0%) and Bacillus (1.3%). Risk factors analysis revealed that prevalence significantly differed with the age (P < 0.05), parity (P < 0.05) and udder hygiene condition (P < 0.03). Thus, prevalence was relatively higher in adult cows (OR = 2.0; 95% CI = 1.15, 3.64), cows with moderate calves (OR = 2.4; 95% CI = 1.6, 3.6), cows with injured teat (OR = 7.7, 95%CI = 0.9, 64.1) and cows with unwashed udder (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 0.8, 6.4) than those corresponding animals. In conclusion, this study revealed the importance of mastitis and associated bacterial pathogen in the study area.
Highlights
Dairy production is a biologically efficient system that converts feed and roughages to milk (Yohannes 2003)
Study Area: A cross sectional study was conducted in the selected dairy farms in Holeta town which is located at 40km west of Addis Ababa and at an elevation of 2400 m.a.s.l in the central Ethiopia
S. aureus account for 3.9% and 43.1% from clinical and subclinical mastitis cases, respectively; whereas, Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus (CNS) was isolated from clinical and subclinical mastitis at the rate of 1.3% and 28.8%, respectively
Summary
Dairy production is a biologically efficient system that converts feed and roughages to milk (Yohannes 2003). Milk is a very nutritional food that is rich in carbohydrate, proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals. The increase in human population, accessibility to technology input, high demand for animal products and purchasing power in urban center had helped the urban and per urban dairy farm in the country to flourish (Yoseph et al, 1998). FAO (2003) estimated that 42% of the total cattle herds, for the private holdings are milking cows. Milk production often does not satisfy the country's milk requirements due to a multitude of associated factors. Known to be a complex and costly disease of dairy cows, that results from the interaction of the cow and environment including milking machine and microorganism (Azmi et al, 2008)
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