Citation
Haron, Abd Wahid and Abdullah, Faez Firdaus Jesse and Tijjani, Abdulnasir and Abba, Yusuf and Adamu, Lawan and Mohammed, Konto and Mohammed Amir, Aisyah Munira and Sadiq, Mohammad Abubakar and Mohd Lila, Mohd Azmi
(2014)
The use of Na+ and K+ ion concentrations as potential diagnostic indicators of subclinical mastitis in dairy cows.
Veterinary World, 7 (11).
pp. 966-969.
ISSN 0972-8988; ESSN: 2231-0916
Abstract
Aim: This study was conducted to evaluate the concentrations of sodium (Na+) and potassium (K+) ions in milk of lactating dairy cows with and without subclinical mastitis as putative indicators for detecting subclinical mastitis in dairy cows.
Materials and Methods: Thirty seven lactating dairy cows were screened for the evidence of subclinical mastitis using California mastitis test (CMT). The lactating dairy cows were categorized as CMT-Positive (CMT-P; n=20) and CMT-Negative (CMT-N; n=17) based on whether they were positive or negative for CMT using a standard kit. The CMT-P lactating dairy cows were further sub divided into subclinical 1+ (S1+; n=6), subclinical 2+ (S2+; n=9), and subclinical 3+(S3+; n=5). Direct microscopy somatic cell count (SCC) was used to determine the SCC using Wright’s stain. The samples were filtered and diluted at 1:100 dilutions before being measured for the concentrations of Na+ and K+ using atomic absorption spectrophotometer.
Results: There was a significant increase (p<0.05) in SCCs and Na+ concentration in the milk of CMT-P dairy cows, with a mean Log10 SCC score of 5.35±0.06 cells/ml and mean Na+ concentration of 232±19.1 mg/dL. However, there was a significant reduction (p<0.05) in the concentration of K+ (123±7.6 mg/dL) in the milk samples of the CMT-P cows. There were significant differences (p<0.05) in SCC, Na+ and K+ concentrations between milk samples from the CMT-N dairy cows and CMT-P subgroups; S1+, S2+, and S3+ respectively. Potassium (K+) concentration had a significant strong negative correlation with sodium (Na+) concentration (r=−0.688; p<0.01) and weak positive correlation with SCC (r=−0.436; p<0.01). The sensitivity of using Na+ and K+ concentrations as detection indices for sub-clinical mastitis is 40% and 90%, respectively, while the specificity of each was 100%.
Conclusion: This study thus shows that evaluation of Na+ and K+ concentrations from milk samples of dairy cows with sub clinical mastitis can be of immense diagnostic benefit and will compliments detection using CMT alone.
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