Efficacy of udder hygiene products of ‘Forticept’ line in the prevention of Subclinical mastitis in cows

Abstract

The aim of the research was to test experimental samples of udder hygiene products ‘Forticept Udder Wash’ and ‘Forticept Udder Forte’ in the prevention of subclinical mastitis in cows. To study the effect of experimental products for udder treatment before and after milking of the line ‘Forticept’, two groups of cows (n = 48) were formed in PE ‘Demetra-2010’ (Kamianets-Podilskyi District, Khmelnytskyi Region). Animals of the experimental group were treated with experimental samples of drug ‘Forticept Udder Wash’ before milking and ‘Forticept Udder Forte’ after milking. Cows of control group were treated with the drug for udder hygiene based on iodine — ‘Uberaseptic SB’. The criteria for selection of animals into groups were the somatic cells count (SCC) in the milk of each quarter of the udder and the quantity of mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms (QMAFAnM) in milk. All animals of the experimental and control groups were diagnosed for the presence of a subclinical form of mastitis using the reagent ‘Profilac Reagent N’ (Westfalia). Examination of cattle for the presence of subclinical mastitis, just on the 10th day of drug application, revealed a 2.0-fold decrease in the percentage of sick animals in the group where the ‘Forticept’ complex was used in comparison with control animals. At the end of the experiment, this indicator among the animals of the control group treated with the water-containing drug ‘Uberaseptic SB’ was 2.9 times higher than in the experimental group. On the 30th day of the survey, the prevalence of subclinical mastitis increased to 18.3% in the group of animals treated with iodine and decreased to 59.0% when treated with ‘Forticept Udder Wash’ and ‘Forticept Udder Forte’, which was 2.4 times lower. Application of ‘Forticept Udder Wash’ and ‘Forticept Udder Forte’ improved the quality of milk, in particular, there was an increase in fat content by 16.4%, digestible protein content by 10.4% (p < 0.05) and a decrease in protein content by 26.5% (p < 0.05), dry matter content by 16.5% (p < 0,01), and 3.3 times decrease of SCC due to a decrease of QMAFAnM by 9.5% and total bacteria count to > 100 CFU/cm3, and relevant inflammatory products. The use of ‘Forticept’ complex allows to obtain stable milk yields with a tendency to increase: gross yield in the experimental group increased by 1.3% during 30 days (with a decrease in the control group by 3.7%)