Study on the Conventional and Traditional Treatment of Caprine Mastitis

Abstract

Ethnoveterinary practices are very common in Pakistan due to the poor socioeconomic status of the rural farmers. The traditional veterinary healers are therefore getting more attention from farmers. Thirty mastitic goats were selected and divided into five equal groups viz; A, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Groups were treated as A: control (no treatment), B1: parental injections of amoxicillin with clavulanic acid and flunixinmaglumine, B2: trimethoprim with sulphadiazene and flunixinmaglumine, C1: oral treatment of Garlic (Allium Sativium L.) and Turmeric (Curcuma Longa L.), C2: Purple fleabane (Centratherum Anthelmenticum) and Turmeric (Curcuma Longa L.). The bacterial load of clinical mastitis before and after treatment was measured. The bacterial load was noticed significantly reduced in group B, followed by C compared with A at 7th and 14th day of conventional and traditional treatments respectively. Furthermore, on day 28th of trial the right teat bacterial load was significantly reduced in all treated groups vs control. Out of 1260 milk samples, the clinical and subclinical mastitis was observed in 65 (5.15%) and 226 (23.1 %) animals respectively. The temperature, pulse, respiration, udder circumference and cumulative bacterial load were elevated in untreated animals and on 0 day, which further subsides following treatment in different groups. The milk quantity was seriously reduced in mastitic goats, however some of the lost milk quantity was recovered following different treatments. It has been revealed that the medicinal plants can also be used effectively at very low cost but recovery is slow.