Correlation between electrical conductivity and somatic cell counts in identifying subclinical mastitis in cows
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Date
2020-02
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Abstract
Sub clinical mastitis (SCM) is one of the most underrated diseases of economic importance in dairy cattle
and buffaloes as no obvious changes in udder or milk occur. Various assays are available for the detection
of SCM. A hand-held conductivity meter has been designed at TRPVB to detect SCM based on changes in
electrical conductivity (EC) milk samples. In the present study, milk samples from cross bred and native
breeds of cows (n=159) were analyzed for their EC using the conductivity meter and absolute somatic cell
counts (SCC) using the standard conventional Newman’s method of staining. For detecting SCM, EC readingof 4.0 and SCC of 5.00 lakhs / ml was used as cutoff. The diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was found to be
100 and 98.9 respectively. The correlation coefficient between EC and SCC was 0.927. Using the generated
regression equation, the SCC could be predicted based on EC values. Using the absolute and predicted SCC
for classifying a milk sample as SCM, the diagnostic sensitivity and specificity was found to be 100% and
84.7% respectively. This study confirms the application of conductivity meter as an affordable cow side test
for routine monitoring of mastitis status both based on the predicted SCC in addition to the normal EC values
Description
TNV_20thMVC_PP_Feb-2020_PA55
Keywords
Veterinary Science