Identification and characterization of uterine microorganisms and selection of treatment strategy in repeat breeding cows to increase conception rate in dairy farms in Chattogram

Abstract

Repeat breeding is one of the major constraints in profitable dairy farming due to repeated conception failure. The present study was conducted with an objective to calculate the prevalence of repeat breeding in cows, to isolate, identify, and confirm predominant bacteria from uterine samples and also to perform antibiotic sensitivity test for selection of appropriate antibiotic. The data were collected by interviewing the owner of the cows from 20 farms having 515 breedable cows located at different areas of Chattogram Metropolitan region. Uterine lavage samples were collected from 50 repeat breeder and 50 fertile healthy crossbred cows. The overall prevalence of repeat breeding cows was 12.23%. The breed, BCS, age and parity of cows influenced the prevalence of repeat breeding in cows. It was observed that, 64% repeat breeders examined were found to be positive for bacterial isolation. Of the 50 repeat breeders, 32 samples (64%) yielded 75 bacterial isolates; where Staphylococcus was predominant 27 (36%), followed by Bacillus 22 (29.33%), E. coli 17 (22.66%), Pseudomonas 9 (12%). The most common species identified from the uterine samples were Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. The ABST in the present study revealed that the maximum number of bacterial isolates were sensitive to gentamicin (85.33%) and ceftriaxone (81.33%) followed by ciprofloxacin (80%) and tetracycline (49.33). The lowest sensitivity was observed for ampicillin (24%) and penicillin (14.66 %). The repeat breeding cows treated with injection GnRH on the day of AI increased conception rate (60%) compared with other treatment given in this study. Whereas, intrauterine infusion with Gentamicin 10% improved conception rate (50%). It is concluded that, overall prevalence of repeat breeding is influenced by breed, age, BCS and parity of cows. The predominant bacterial isolated from repeat breeder cows are Staphylococcus, Bacillus and E.coli. GnRH injection on the day of AI may improve the conception rate in non-infectious causes while, gentamicin may be effective for infectious repeat breeder cows.