The present study was done on milk samples collected from the 469 milch animals (1765 quarters/teats), of which 296 were buffaloes (1120 quarters) and 173 were cows (645 quarters) at Disease Investigation Laboratory (DI lab), Bhiwani during the period from July, 2016 to June, 2017to know quarter-wise association of mastitis in bovines and to understand current susceptibility pattern of the isolates to various antibacterial drugs. Overall prevalence was observed to be 42.86 % by WST. Species-wise higher percentage of cows (47.40%) were positive for mastitis compares to buffaloes (40.20%). Among the affected animals, the maximum were having only single quarter infection among both species i.e., 35.47% of cows and 41.18% of buffaloes. Incidence observed on front quarters and hind quarters basis lead to the inference that hind quarters (32.31%) are more prone to mastitis than front quarters (15.46%). At species level also, higher incidences were noted in hind quarters. The result leads to inference that the hind quarters are more susceptible to mastitis than the front quarters. Categorization of data according to position of four teats/quarters viz., left hind, right hind, left front and right front quarter, overall as level at species level basis right hind quarter was having the highest prevalence while left front quarter was found to be the least affected by mastitis. In bacteriological examination total177 (88.06%) milk samples were found to be positive in cultural examination. Of the examined samples 37 (84.09%) of cows while 140 (89.17%) of buffaloes, respectively, were positive for microbial isolation. On Gram’s staining it was observed that the majority of isolates were Gram-positive bacteria (59.89%). Based on colony and morphological characteristics among the Gram-positive bacteria Staphyloccocus sp. bacteria were the major pathogens while E. coli was the major pathogen amongst the Gram-isolates. The antibiotic sensitivity pattern of isolates was a studied. Ceftriaxone-sulbactum was found to be the most effective (92.09%) among the tested antibiotics followed by enrofloxacin (90.39%) while Penicillin-G was found to be least effective (11.30 %) among the battery of antibiotics tested. The present study lead to the inference that there is association of mastitis with position of quarter and the pathogens associated with the disease are developing resistant to the commonly used antibiotics. Hence, the animal health workers must recommend antibiotic sensitivity testing so that effective and judicious use of antibiotics can be done. Dairy farmers should adopt scientific methods of animal husbandry in order to achieve profitable and hygienic milk production.

Download this article as