Detection of subclinical ketosis in dairy buffalo herds of Tehsil Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan

Bovine ketosis is a major metabolic disorder emerging as a result of negative energy balance in the post calving period and subsequent lactation of lactating dairy animals. The ketone bodies (beta-hydroxybutyrate, acetoacetate and acetone etc.) are accumulated that can be detected in milk, blood, and urine samples. The present study was accomplished to sort out the frequency of bovine ketosis in dairy buffalo herds during the first 2 months of lactation in buffalo to detect bovine ketosis. For this purpose, blood, and urine samples (n=50) were randomly collected from private dairy farms (n=5) having buffalos as a pilot study employing commercial test strips i.e., Free Style Optium β-ketone test strips (Abbot Healthcare, Pvt. Ltd. UK) for blood and JusChek (Muenster, Germany) for urine analysis. Resultantly, as a whole prevalence of bovine ketosis found using blood sample was 18% and via urine was 12% that indicates high prevalence of subclinical ketosis during 2nd month of lactation. Animals in the age group of 5 to 7 years were found to be significantly more susceptible (P<0.05) with an incidence of 37.5%. The results revealed that a significant subclinical ketosis exists in the dairy buffaloes, which causes decreased production associated with significant economic loss to the farmers. It was concluded that a moderately high incidence of sub clinical bovine ketosis predominates in the study area which may be curtailed by early diagnostic and remedial approaches using field tests to save the economics of the farmers.