ABSTRACT
The control of bovine mastitis is extremely necessary in order to obtain a high-quality milk production. Pre-and postmilking teat dips with an appropriate disinfecting agent have reduced new udder infections by 50 to 90%. The aim of this work was to compare microorganisms isolated from bovine mastitis cases to establish their susceptibility to successive dilutions of different kinds of disinfecting agents. In this study Staphylococcus sp., Streptococcus sp., Corynebacterium sp., Escherichia coli, and ATCC standard stains of Staphylococcus aureus and E. coli were used. This study proved that iodine tincture at 2% and 1% presented the best performance in vitro against all evaluated microorganisms. But if iodine teat dips are used, low iodine concentrations (0.5% or less) should be used since 1% iodine has resulted in a mild increase in milk iodine content. Sodium hypochlorite at 0.5% was ineffective. Benzalkonium chlorite at 1% was only effective against gram-positive agents. Chlorhexidine was outstanding, because it was effective against both environmental and contagious mastitis agents. Chlorhexidine can be used at 0.5%.
KEY WORDS:
Mastitis; dairy cows; chlorhexidine; iodine; quaternary ammonium; sodium hypochlorite.
Thumbnail
