Investigations on prevalence and oxidative stress aspects of mastitis in buffaloes

Abstract

The 424 quarter milk samples collected from 106 apparently healthy lactating buffaloes were screened for mastitis using bacterial cultural examination and somatic cell count. The prevalence of sub-clinical mastitis (SCM), latent mastitis and non-specific mastitis were found to be 9.90% (42/424), 4.24% (18/424), and 15.80% (67/424), respectively. There was significant (P≤0.05) elevation of blood malondialdehyde (MDA) level in SCM and clinical mastitis cases. Besides, milk malondialdehyde levels were also found to be appreciably elevated in both SCM and clinical mastitis in buffaloes. The occurrence of lipid peroxidation as revealed by elevated blood and milk MDA levels, in present study, indicated the involvement of oxidative stress and the possible oxidative damage in SCM and clinical mastitis in buffaloes.