Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Artigo Produção Nacional Revisado por pares

BIBTEX RIS

Relationship between Shape of Teat and Teat Tip and Somatic Cell Count (SCC) in Dairy Cows

2015; UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL; Volume: 43; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1679-9216

Werner Okano, Celso Koetz, Alexey Leon Gomel Bogado, Luiz Carlos Negri Filho, Dalton Evert Bronkhorst, Marcelo Henrique Favaro Borges, Flávio Antônio Barca, Marcelo dos Santos Diniz, Elsa Helena Walter de Santana, Camila Bizarro da Silva,

Infant Nutrition and Health

Background: Mastitis is characterized by inflammation of the mammary gland, usually caused by pathogens, these infec- tions may be classified as either clinical or subclinical, which are responsible for physical, chemical and bacteriological changes in milk and/or changes in the glandular tissue. The shape of both teat and teat tip are among the factors that may predispose to the development of clinical and subclinical mastitis, it is therefore important that they have a desirable mor- phology so that they are less susceptible to pathogens. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between teat shape and Somatic Cell Count (SCC) in dairy cattle. Materials, Methods & Results: The research was carried out in two dairy farms located in the municipality of Arapongas, Parana state, Brazil. Data were obtained from 150 Holstein cows variety black and white, where 597 teat shape and teat tip were evaluated during entry into the milking parlor. The teat shape was classified as desirable; bottle-shaped; cone-shaped; short; funnel-shaped; plump; and pencil-shaped, while the teat tip was classified as round; flat; funnel shape (inverted); disk, and pointed (hyperkeratosis). The somatic cell count (SCC) was carried out by flow cytometry by the equipment Somacount 500 ®1 . The variable SCC was evaluated taking into account the shape of the teat, then two groups were formed: G1 - Four teats of desirable shape, and G2 - animals with two teats of desirable shape and two short teats. To analyze the SCC on shape of teat tips, the animals were divided into three groups: G3 - Four flat teats, G4 - Four rounded teats, and G5 - two rounded teats and two flat teats. Descriptive statistics on frequency of shape of teats and teat tips was applied. The variable SCC was analyzed by ANOVA followed by multiple comparison of means by Tukey test after meeting the assumptions of normality and random errors distribution, being considered statistically significant when P value is less than 5% (P 0.05) was observed between teat shape/teat tip shape and SCC, where the group G1 showed 287.4 x 10 3 cells/mL and G2 421.5 x 10 3 cells/mL, while the teat tip shape groups G3, G4 and G5 showed respectively 458.5 x 10 3 , 427.2 x 103 and 344.5 x 10 3 cells/mL. Animals from group G1 showed 31.8% less SCC than G2, and 37.3%, 32.7%, 16.6% less SCC than G3, G4 and G5, respectively. Discussion: In the present study was observed 74.20% (443/597) teats with desirable morphology and 25.8% (154/597) with undesirable morphology, although the last one has the teats conformation as risk factor for clinical or subclinical mastitis, according to several reports, when was carried out the evaluation of SCC did not showed differences between the groups that had desirable and undesirable formats, showing SCC count below 600 x103 cells/mL. Probably, this predispo- sition was impaired by the effective health care management adopted in the two dairy farms. This indicates that sanitary measures may overcome the effects of pathogens on morphology changes of the teats.