Udder health and milk quality among camels in the Errer valley of eastern Ethiopia

摘要

Quartermilksamples(n=205)from53camelswereexaminedtostudytheoccurrenceandcausesofmastitisintraditionallymanagedcamelsintheErrervalleyofeasternEthiopiaandtoobservefactorsaffectingudderhealth.Thestudyrevealedtickinfestationandlesionsontheteatsandudderskin26(49,1%).Seven(3.3%)camelshadblindteatsand5(9.4%)hadclinicalmastitis.Seventy-seven(37.6%)quartersyieldedbacteria.Staphylococcusaureus,Streptococcusagalactiaeandcoagulasenegativestaphylococciwerethemainorganismsisolated.Ahighproportion(80%)ofbacteriapositivemilksampleshadCMTscore2ormore,whileasimilarproportion(80%)ofbacteriologicallynegativesamplesshowedCMTscore1.Quartersinfectedwithbacteriahadsignificantlyhighermeanvaluesforsomaticcellcountsthannon-Infectedoneslog12.5and13.6respectively.Thedemographicparametersofage,parity,andlactationstagedidnotinfluencetheabilitytopredictwhetheraquarterwasnormal,whenjudgedonpercentagecorrectlyclassified.Thesignificanceofthefindingsinrelationtoproductionsystem,hygieneandpublichealthaspectswerediscussed.Itisconcludedthatearlyproblemrecognitionandimprovedhygienicmeasureswillresultinreducedlossesduetomastitisandincreasetheavailabilityofmilkforconsumptionandsale.