Prevalence of pregnancy ketosis in goat farms, blood profiling and histopathological changes in late gestation and post-partum goats with ketosis

Pregnancy ketosis is one of the common metabolic diseases that affect goats’ meat and milk production, resulting in low productivity and hence, high economic losses. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of natural ketosis in selected dairy goat farms and its associated risk factors, and also to study the serum biochemical profiles and the histopathological changes in late gestation and post-partum goats with experimental ketosis. A total of 255 pregnant goats from ten farms from Terengganu (n=5) and Selangor (n=5) were screened for ketosis, which comprised of 20 to 30 random pregnant goats for each farm. Chi square analysis was done to determine the risk factors that associated with the prevalence of ketosis in the farms. For experimental trial, twelve (n=12) pregnant goats were divided into control (n=3) and treatment (n=9) groups. The control group was fed diet with adequate energy, while the treatment group was exposed to 50% reduction in the energy intake to induce ketosis. Blood was collected at weekly intervals for biochemical analysis, which included glucose, Beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), free fatty acid (FFA), calcium, sodium, potassium, chloride, cortisol and insulin. On days 20 (PK20) and 40 (PK40) post-induction, 3 induced and 1 control goats were slaughtered while the remaining 3 ketosis-induced goats were provided with normal balanced diet to allow for recovery (PKRD). At slaughter, the liver, heart and brain were collected for histopathological study. Following ketosis screening, Selangor farms showed high prevalence (47.33%) of ketosis as compared to Terengganu farms (20.97%), which was characterized by high BHBA level (≥0.08 mmol/L) and presence of clinical signs. The survey revealed that all the nutritional risk factors, namely type, composition, nutritive value and quality of feed were significantly associated (p<0.05) with the prevalence of ketosis. Moreover, the experimental induction resulted in acute ketosis after 20 days with clinical signs including weakness, low body condition score and recumbency. Chronic ketosis was observed at 40 days, showing incoordination and abortion. Following re-introduction of adequate energy supply, the recovered PKRD goats showed no clinical sign. There were significant (p<0.05) decrease in the glucose, insulin, calcium and potassium levels among the induced goats while the concentrations of BHBA, FFA and cortisol were significantly (p<0.05) higher. Histopathological examinations revealed that the liver of goats with ketosis showed fatty degeneration and congestion with polymorphonuclear leukocytes and mononuclear cells infiltrations. The heart of ketotic does were congested while the brain had congestion and cerebellar spongiosis. Indeed, pregnancy ketosis has been associated with insufficient diet during the late stage of pregnancy which the severity of the disease caused changes in serum biochemical and hormonal profiles during the late gestation and post-partum period of the goats as well as the histopathological changes of various organs such as liver, heart and brain.

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