Abstract
Aim:Evaluation of the effect of clinical mastitis (CM) and its treatment outcome on the reproductive performance in crossbred cows retrospectively.Materials and Methods:Datasets of 835 lactating cows affected with CM during a period of 12 years (2001-2012) were considered for this study. Mastitis treatment related data and reproductive parameters such as days to first detected heat (DTFDH), days to first insemination (DTFI), days open (DO), and number of services per conception (SC) were collected from mastitis treatment and artificial insemination registers, respectively. Data were analyzed by ANOVA using SPSS 20 software. The means were compared with the Duncan’s multiple comparison post-hoc test.Results:CM affected cows had significantly (p<0.05) higher DTFDH, DTFI, DO and SC compared to clinically healthy cows. Cows diagnosed with a single episode of CM had significantly (p<0.05) delayed DTFDH while, DO and SC were significantly higher (p<0.05) in cows diagnosed by multiple episodes of CM. SC was significantly (p<0.05) higher in cows diagnosed with both relapse and recurrence. Severe CM affected cows had significantly (p<0.05) altered reproductive parameters. The reproductive parameters were altered to high extent when CM occurred during the breeding period.Conclusion:CM-affected cows had higher DTFDH, DTFI, DO and SC compared to clinically healthy cows. The negative effects of CM on reproduction parameters were higher when CM occurred during the breeding period.
Highlights
Clinical mastitis (CM) is the most important disease in dairy cows leading to huge economic losses to dairy farmers through loss of milk yield and quality, and culling of CM affected animals
The negative effects of CM on reproduction parameters were higher when CM occurred during the breeding period
The cows diagnosed with a single episode of CM had significantly (p
Summary
Clinical mastitis (CM) is the most important disease in dairy cows leading to huge economic losses to dairy farmers through loss of milk yield and quality, and culling of CM affected animals. The effect of mastitis was considered to be restricted to udder only except in severe cases where systemic illness was observed. Off late, increasing evidence indicate that mastitis is a critical factor affecting the reproductive success of the herd. A direct causal effect of mastitis on reproductive inefficiency has not been established, it is evident that a correlation between mammary gland health and fertility of lactating. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated
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