Staphylococcus aureus and other pathogens in relation to breed of cattle and somatic cell count (2014)

Influence of breed on somatic cell count (SCC) and occurrence of particular species was evaluated. The samples were collected from farms with Holstein (H; 10 farms - 365 cows) breeding and from farms with Czech Fleckvieh (CF; 2 farms – 67 cows). The obtained dataset was statisticaly evaluated by analysis of variance. The occurrence of pathogens was compared between H and CF. The relationship between SCC and incidence of pathogens was determined as well. It is evident that more positive cows were in breed H compared to CF (H 41.6%; CF 26.9%). The most frequent pathogens in H breed were S. aureus(13.7%), S. uberis (9.6%), S. haemolyticus (8.5%), S. agalactiae (6.9%), E. faecalis (2.5%) and E. faecium (0.8%), while only S. uberis (19.4%), S. haemolyticus (6%) and S. aureus (1.5%) were found in CF. SCC results showed the higher SCC in H breed in case of both negative and positive cows as well and significant impact of breed on logSCC (F = 6.4, P = 0.012). The significant effects of bacterial species were confirmed (F = 13.6, P 0.001). Multiple comparison among groups of bacterial species showed significant differences between negative and S. aureus, S. agalactiae, S. uberis (P = 0.012, P 0.001, P 0.001). Differences between negative and other pathogens were not signifiant.

Bulgarian Journal of Agricultural Science. 2014, 20(6): 1477–1482. ISSN 1310-0351