Chronic caprine mastitis in Nigerian goat breeds: microbiological flora and histopathological findings

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Abstract

In a study involving lactating does with normal-sized and enlarged pendulous udders, 85.5% of milk samples obtained from does with unilateral udder enlargement and 84.8% of samples from bilaterally enlarged udders indicated the presence of intramammary inflammation based on results of the modified Whiteside test. In contrast, only 47.6% of milk samples obtained from normal-sized udders showed evidence of intramammary inflammation. Bacterial cultures were performed on all milk samples which showed evidence of intramammary inflammation. 16 species of bacteria and other microorganisms were cultured from these samples. Bilaterally enlarged udders collectively yielded 13 different microbial isolates, while unilaterally enlarged udders yielded 11, and normal-sized udders yielded 9. The most frequent isolates in all groups were Staphylococcus spp. and Corynebacterium spp. On histopathologic examination, severe pathological changes in the teat and udder tissues of enlarged pendulous udders were observed. Lesions in parenchymatous tissues showed mild to severe inflammation with involution of the parenchyma of glands. This led to shrinkage of the alveoli and in severe cases, their complete disappearance and replacement by fibrous connective tissue which was observed to have a high degree of proliferation. Sections of non-pendulous udder tissue showed proper arrangement of alveoli with hypertrophic epithelial cells, indicating active secretory activity. The results provide some definitive evidence that enlarged pendulous udder development in some Nigerian breeds of goats is not spontaneous but occurs largely as a result of incursion of the mammary glands by pathogenic organisms which may cause mastitis resulting in progressive dysfunction of mammary tissue. In chronic cases, there is severe atrophy of glandular tissue leading to fibrosis.

Introduction

In a previous demographic study, Alawa et al. (1996) observed that the occurrence of enlarged pendulous udders in some savanna breeds of goats may not in all cases be hereditary, as suggested by Twiwo and Buvanendran (1985) who observed significant positive correlations of udder dimensions of dams and their daughters. For highly selected dairy breeds, any such correlation for udder size would be expected. However, in non-dairy breeds, such as the Red Sokoto goat, the correlation of udder size of dams to those of their daughters, is less predictable.

Results obtained in the study by Alawa et al. (1996) indicated that the development of enlarged pendulous udders starts after first kidding and that lactation or the presence of milk in the udder of the doe is a pre-requisite for its development. Milk is a good medium for bacterial multiplication, and udder infection is likely to occur in situations where health management is substandard. Such infection, if not detected quickly and treated appropriately, may become chronic causing morphological alterations in udder tissue. Previous studies (Addo et al., 1980) suggest that does which developed enlarged pendulous udders invariably suffered from mastitis.

The present study was designed to investigate the microbiological flora and histopathology of enlarged pendulous udders with the aim of providing evidence of a pathological basis for udder enlargement.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

21 does with normal udders and 40 does with unilaterally enlarged udders as well as 40 does with bilaterally enlarged udders were obtained by random selection from among locally raised herds in Zaria locality in Kaduna State (Nigeria) for the study. All the does were of the Red Sokoto and Kano Brown breeds and were lactating at the time of selection. Normal sized udders were measured in the range of 10–14 cm from tip of teat to the point of udder attachment on the animal’s body. Enlarged,

Milk quality and bacterial isolates

Table 1 shows results of the modified Whiteside test. While both udder halves of all the normal-sized udders yielded milk, four of the 80 unilaterally enlarged and one of the 80 bilaterally enlarged udder halves did not yield any milk.

Intramammary inflammation was much more common in enlarged, pendulous udders than in normal-sized udders. Negative reactions to the modified Whiteside test were obtained from 52.4% of the milk samples from normal-sized udders as compared to negative reactions from

Discussion

The present study shows that most of the milk samples obtained from unilaterally (85.5%) and bilaterally (84.8%) enlarged pendulous udders tested positive for mastitis compared to fewer milk samples from normal-sized udders which tested positive for mastitis (47.6%). The failure of a few halves from enlarged pendulous udders to yield milk is probably indicative of mammary dysfunction associated with chronic infections.

Subclinical infections, which are fairly common in goats with apparently

Conclusion

The frequency of enlarged pendulous udders and mastitis among Red Sokoto goats in Nigeria is likely to remain high unless an appropriate management strategy is adopted. This could be based on a combination of frequent milking with occasional testing of milk, culling and selection. Frequent milking of lactating does and occasional milk testing would lead to early detection and treatment of subclinical cases of mastitis while culling of advanced and chronic cases would reduce the prevalence and

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