Epidemiological Study of Mastitis in Three Different Strains of Beetal Goat in Selected Districts of Punjab, Pakistan.

Mastitis in goats, analogous to dairy cattle, is among the momentous diseases of economic value in all parts of the world. Local information of epidemiology of goat mastitis is scanty. In the present study, considering geographical distribution of Beetal goat, 172 flocks were randomly pulled out by “Survey tool box” to reduce biased sampling from perie-urban and urban areas of six districts of Punjab. By following the proportionate sampling strategy and assuming the highest population (70%) of Beetal all over the Punjab, Beetal strains were screened for the prevalence of mastitis from Faisalabad, Jhang, Chiniot, Bahawalpur, Muzzafargarh and Rajanpur districts. Screening of the flocks with surf field mastitis test indicated that overall prevalence of caprine mastitis in Beetal breed was 17.39% while in Beetal Faisalabadi strain 16.53% from 116 flocks, in Beetal Makhicheeni 18.06% from 32 flocks and in Beetal Nuqri 19.33% from 24 flocks. Microbiological examination of milk samples showed various types of mastitic microorganisms. The predominant isolates included Staphylococcus (S). hyicus (45%), S. xylosus (19%), S. simulans (16%), S. aureus (9%) and unidentifiable Staphyloccocal species (11%). Antibiotic sensitivity test was conducted on the most prevalent isolates. S. aureus and S. hyicus showed sensitivity to eight antibiotics: amoxicillin, ampicilin, lincomycin, sulfamethoxazole+trimethoprim, novobiocin, enrofloxacin, amoxicillin+ clavulanic acid and oxytetracycline while S. xylosus was sensitive to all antibiotics except novobiocin and S. simulans was sensitive to lincomycin, sulfamethoxazole+ trimethoprim, enrofloxacin and resistant to all other antibiotics. The study found over all 16.74% mastitis in different strains of Beetal. The most important parameters as; type of housing, farm hygiene, age, stage of lactation, parity, color, body condition score, teat ends, SFMT score and decreased milk yield were found pertinent risk factors so that prompt attention required for mastitis control in goats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]