Effect of Extra-mammary Diseases on Udder Health and Biochemical Changes in Crossbred Cows with Subclinical Mastitis

Abstract

Background: Infectious diseases and metabolic disorders are common in crossbred cows and adversely affect optimum production as well as quality of milk. The quality of milk plays a significant role in the production of high-quality dairy products. High somatic cell count (SCC) in the milk significantly decreases the potential of such milk for the production of high quality dairy products. In this study, it is hypothesized that the extra-mammary infections and metabolic disorders increase probability of intra-mammary infections thereby increasing somatic cell count in the milk making it unsuitable for dairy industry.Methods: Cows were grouped based on the diseases or disorders like Teat Stenosis (Gp SCM-TS), Ruminal Acidosis (Gp SCM-RA), Nonspecific Diarrhea (Gp SCM-ND), Respiratory Tract Infections (Gp SCM-RTI) and Repeat Breeder Syndrome (Gp SCM-RD). Diagnosis of subclinical mastitis was made on the basis of California Mastitis Test (CMT) scores and by Somatic Cell Count (SCC) by automatic somatic cell counter. Biochemical parameters analyzed in automatic biochemical analyzer using commercially available kits.Result: The mean SCC values significantly higher in cows with sublinical mastitis and with concurrent infectious and metabolic diseases. Similarly, the concentrations of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate amino transferase (AST), and alanine amino transferase (ALT) were higher in affected cows. Concentrations of serum total proteins (TP) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) in all the groups of affected animals were higher. The changes in the calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) levels were not observed in cows with subclinical mastitis and with other diseases under study. The SCC values did not correlate with the values of ALP, AST, ALT, TP, BUN, Ca and P among the studied groups. It can be concluded that animals with concurrent infections and metabolic disorders increase the SCC and influence the alteration in the biochemical parameters of subclinical mastitic animals.