Relation between electrical conductivity, dielectric constant, somatic cell count and some other milk quality parameters in diagnosis of subclinical mastitis in Murrah buffaloes

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the relation between electrical conductivity (EC), dielectric constant (DC), somatic cell count (SCC) and some other milk quality parameters in Murrah Buffaloes and their effectiveness for diagnosis of subclinical (SCM) and clinical mastitis (CM). A total of 536 samples collected from Murrah buffaloes were examined for mastitis. Buffaloes having milk SCC below 2×10⁵ per ml were categorised as healthy buffaloes, those with SCC lying in the range 2×10⁵ - 5×10⁵ per ml were considered to be subclinical and with SCC more than 5×10⁵ per ml were placed in clinical mastitis category.

The values of milk EC, DC and SCC were significantly (P<0.01) higher in SCM and CM Murrah buffaloes. Milk pH ranged 6.48 to 6.62 in healthy and subclinical cases, whereas, 7.03 in clinical mastitis cases. Milk temperature values varied between 33.15^oC in healthy, 33.48 ^oC in subclinical cases and 35.77 ^oC in clinical mastitis cases. There was a significant positive correlation (P <0.01) between EC, DC, pH, SCC and milk temperature. The multiple linear regression equation was developed for the experimental data to determine the relation between the somatic cell counts with milk quality parameters. The equation best described the data with 4.91 % RMS between experimental and predicted values, indicating that this relationship could be used an indicator for diagnosis of subclinical mastitis.