Impact of milking modalities on the occurrence of subclinical mastitis and the anti-bacterial effect of honey on isolated bacteria (Escherichia coli)

Abstract

Prevention of mastitis is a major concern in dairy cattle breeding, and is among the most costly diseases of dairy companies. The purpose of this study was to compare two types of milking practices; one using manual milk-ing and the other using mechanical milking to determine milking type consequences on the occurrence and spread of subclinical mastitis. One hundred dairy cows were brought to the slaughterhouse following a fall in milk production due to subclinical mastitis, of which 64 cows were mechanically milked and 36 cows were manually milked. After anti-mortem and post-mortem examinations, we found that 58% of cows in mechanical milking mode had mastitis. Amongst them 9% of cows had mastitis spread on the four teats. However, the rate was higher (68%) in cows where milking was done manually, of which 49% mastitis spread on the four teats. The bacterio-logical analyses was carried out regarding coliforms, Staphylococci and Streptococci on the raw milks of cows suspected of mastitis, irrespective of the mode of milking.. We chose E. coli and found that its resistance against antibiotics tested was important, except Gentamicin where the sensitivity was average with an inhibition zone of 1.6 cm. We then evaluated the effect of pure honey on the strain to see its antiseptic effect. We noticed the inhibition zone diameters of 2.2 cm. We also tested the effect of diluted honey, the results of which were not satisfactory because of the decreased antisep-tic activity possibly owing to decreased acidity of the honey.