A CMT-BASED ANALYSIS OF THE INCIDENCE AND SEVERITY OF SUBCLINICAL MASTITIS IN KANGAYAM COWS.

Abstract

Subclinical mastitis is a silent form of mastitis that is prevalent in dairy cows worldwide. This study aimed to determine the incidence of subclinical mastitis in Kangayam cows, an indigenous Indian breed, using the California Mastitis Test (CMT) method. Milk samples were collected from 125 randomly selected Kangayam cows in the Erode and Tirupur Districts of Tamil Nadu. The collected samples were tested with a CMT kit, and the grading was done according to the Lahamge et al. scoring system. Out of the 500 total samples collected, 97 (19.4%) tested positive for subclinical mastitis. Within the positive samples, 51.54%, 32.98%, and 15.46% were ‘+’, ‘++’ and ‘+++’, respectively. Based on the results, the overall animal wise and quarter wise prevalence of subclinical mastitis was found to be 43.20% and 19.40%, respectively. The study found that Kangayam cows had a relatively lower incidence, quarter involvement, and severity of subclinical mastitis than other dairy breeds previously reported in literature. Considering these findings, educating farmers and improving animal rearing conditions was recommended to further lower the incidence of subclinical mastitis in Kangayam cows