Cows In Postpartum Period Research Articles

Effects of season on metabolic profile of Holstein Friesian cows in postpartum period

The aim of the present study was to determine the metabolic profile of Holstein-Friesian cows in the postpartum period, as well as the effect of season on metabolic profile. The postpartum period is essential in the reproductive life of high yielding dairy cows because of its impact on future gravidity. This study included 60 cows up to 15 days after parturition, aged 2-8 years (the largest number of cows was between 3 and 5 years old) with no apparent clinical problems. Cows were sampled in summer season (n=30) and winter season (n=30). Parameters of metabolic profile were determined as follows: glucose, albumin, total protein, cholesterol, bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), urea, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium. Statistical differences were considered significant at the p<0.05. Present research showed that all investigated parameters were within a reference range for cattle. Impact of season sampling was determined for glucose, albumin, total protein, cholesterol and phosphorus, while bilirubin, calcium, magnesium, urea as well as activities of ALT, AST and LDH were unaffected by the season of sampling. In conclusion, metabolic status is affected by the season and examination during the postpartum period can provide valuable information of cows' health status, in order to diagnose and moreover prevent postpartum diseases.

Evaluation of Chromogenic Culture Media for Rapid Identification of Gram-Positive Bacteria Causing Mastitis.

The present study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance specificity (Sp), sensitivity (Se), positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy (Acc) of two chromogenic culture media for rapid identification of Gram-positive bacteria causing subclinical mastitis (SCM) in dairy cows. For this, the performance of chromogenic culture media Gram-positive (GP) and Staphylococcus (Staph) (CHROMagar ™, Paris—France) was evaluated in milk samples collected from: (1) lactating cows with SCM (n = 504), and (2) cows in the post-partum period (PP) (7 ± 3 days post-partum; n = 536). Rapid identification of Gram-positive bacteria in chromogenic media was performed by visual inspection of colony colors after 24 h of incubation at 37°C. Bacterial identification by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry was considered the reference methodology for calculating: Acc, Se, Sp, PPV, NPV, and Cohen's Kappa coefficient of agreement (k). The chromogenic media GP showed high Acc for Strep. agalactiae/dysgalactiae identification in both samples of SCM (Se: 89.1%; Sp: 96.3% and Acc: 95.6%) and of cows in PP (Se: 100%; Sp: 99.0% and Acc: 99.1%). Similar results were observed for Strep. uberis/Enterococcus spp. identification (Se: 90.5%; Sp: 92.5% and Acc: 92.3%) in SCM samples and Se: 100%; Sp: 99.6% and Acc: 99.6% in samples of PP cows using the GP media. However, the GP chromogenic media showed low Se (25.0% in SCM samples and 50.0% in samples of cows in PP) for Staph. aureus identification, despite Sp and Acc were high (Sp: 98.3% and Acc: 95.4% in SCM and Sp samples: 99.4% and Acc: 98.9% in PP cow samples). Staph culture media showed high Acc for Staph. aureus identification (Se: 80.0%; Sp: 98.8% and Acc: 98.0% in SCM samples and Se: 66.7%; Sp: 100% and Acc: 99.6% in PP cow samples), although the low prevalence of Staph. epidermidis and Staph. saprophyticus limit inferences about the performance of identifying these pathogens in Staph media. In conclusion, despite the limitation of the GP media for identification of Staph. aureus, GP, and Staph chromogenic media obtained satisfactory diagnostic performance results for the rapid identification of the main Gram-positive pathogens associated with SCM.

PSVI-41 The comparative analysis of vaginal flora of high-productive cows in the postpartum period by Real-time PCR

Abstract The aim of the study was the comparative analysis of species composition of vaginal bugs of high-productive cows (n = 7) in the postpartum period by Real-time PCR. The material were vaginal discharge of cows (four of them had acute pyogenic endometritis, another was apparently healthy). The vaginal discharge of sick cows contained the low count of bacteria Megasphaera spp., Veillonella spp., Dialister sрp., Lactobacillus spp. and streptococcus. The evaluation of bacterial count of Lachnobacterium spp., Clostridium spp., actinomycetes Atopobium spp., bacteria Staphylococcus spp., and yeast fungi Candida spр. did not demonstrate statistically different between groups. Probably this bacteria were not the etiological origin of postpartum endometritis of cows. However, vaginal discharge of cows with diagnosis acute pyogenic endometritis had high count of bacteria of Fusobacteriaceae (6,0±3,8 and 5,3±2,6 lg genomes/g), Enterobacteriaceae (6,4±4,1 and 5,1±3,0 lg genomes/g), bacteroides of Prevotella spp. and Porphyromonas spp. (7,4±5,2 and 6,4±4,4 lg genomes/g), actinomycetes Mobiluncus spp. and Corynebacterium spp. (5,1±2,5 and 4,7±1,9 lg genomes/g), Peptostreptococcus spp. and Eubacterium spp., in comparison with apparently healthy cows. The presence of this bacteria in the vaginal discharge of apparently healthy cows suggestive that this bacteria are the permanent vaginal flora. Thus, comparative analysis of the dysbiotic sort of vaginal flora of cows in postpartum period demonstrated that vaginal discharge of cows with diagnosis acute pyogenic endometritis consists the high count of bacteria of potentially pathogenic and pathogenic groups (Fusobacteriaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Prevotella spp., Porphyromonas spp., Mobiluncus spp., Peptostreptococcus spp., Eubacterium spp.).

Effects of acetic acid or sodium acetate infused into the rumen or abomasum on feeding behavior and metabolic response of cows in the postpartum period

Effects of continuous isomolar infusions of acetic acid (AcA) or sodium acetate (NAc) infused into the rumen (RU) or into the abomasum (AB) on feeding behavior, dry matter intake (DMI), and metabolic response of cows in the early postpartum period were evaluated. Six rumen-cannulated multiparous Holstein cows (11.8 ± 3.9 d in milk; mean ± SD) were utilized in a 6 × 6 Latin square design experiment balanced for carryover effects with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments. Treatments were AcA and NAc, with sodium chloride (CON) as a control, infused at a rate of ˜0.75 mol/h (0.5 L/h) into the RU or AB for the first 8 h following feeding, with a rest day between infusion days. Treatment sequences were assigned randomly to cows. Feeding behavior was recorded by a computerized data acquisition system and blood was sampled at 0, 4, and 8 h relative to the start of infusion. We hypothesized that AcA is more hypophagic than NAc, and that infusion into the AB is more hypophagic than infusion into the RU. Dry matter intakes (DMI) for the CON treatments were similar at 6.2 kg/8 h for RU and 6.1 kg/8 h for AB, and the AcA and NAc treatments interacted with site of infusion to affect DMI. The NAc-RU treatment did not reduce DMI (7.0 kg/8 h), whereas AcA-RU (2.6 kg/8 h), AcA-AB (3.7 kg/8 h), and NAc-AB (4.0 kg/8 h) decreased DMI compared with CON. Following infusions of AcA compared with NAc, there was a residual effect on DMI for the remainder of the day, but treatments did not affect DMI during the rest day. Treatments increased plasma acetate and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations over time (interaction) and decreased plasma insulin concentration compared with CON. Plasma glucose concentration decreased over time after AcA-AB infusion compared with other treatments and CON. Plasma nonesterified fatty acid concentration increased over time for AcA compared with NAc and CON, suggesting an increase in lipolysis to compensate the decrease in DMI. In contrast to the other treatments, NAc-RU did not decrease DMI compared with control but we cannot determine the reason for this from the data available from the current study.

Hematological changes of dairy cows in postpartum period and early pregnancy

In this experiment, 50 postpartum healthy Holstein Frisian dairy cows were selected from a large commercial dairy farm. They had normal parturition and had no postpartum problems. The calving number of cows was one to four, and they were inseminated 60 days after parturition. There were no clinical signs of endometritis when cows were examined during routine visits for monitoring fertility. The criteria for selection were that they had a normal parturition history and had calved 25 to 30 days before. They had no mucopurulent discharge from vulva or abnormality in rectal palpation. The cows were evaluated on days 25 to 30 and days 50 to 60 postparturition. Blood samples were collected on sampling days from the coccygeal vein. Hematological parameters were measured by the routine procedures. The health of all uteruses was confirmed by the cytological evaluation of cervical mucosa smear. Cytological samples were obtained from the discharge of cervical mucus and uterine fluid. The concentration of progesterone in serum was measured by radioimmunoassay. There were significant differences in packed cell volume (PCV) between the 25–30 days postpartum, the 55–60 days postpartum, and the pregnant cows. The hematocrit level in the pregnant cows was significantly higher than that in postpartum cows (P 1 and 0.05).