Investigation of <i>Prototheca bovis</i> Infection and Its Correlation with Dairy Herd Improvement Data from a Dairy Farm in Central China

Abstract

Prototheca bovis (P. bovis), an alga that has attracted considerable attention over the years as a causative microorganism of mastitis in dairy cows, exhibits limited susceptibility to specific aminoglycosides and antifungal agents, and no effective clinical treatment is currently available, thereby posing challenges for both prevention and treatment. To investigate the infection of P. bovis mastitis and its impact on raw milk production, a total of 348 raw milk samples were collected from August to December 2022 from a dairy farm in central China. P. bovis and other bacteria were detected, and the average infection rate of P. bovis in raw milk was 60.34% (210/348). The total number of colonies and the somatic cell count (SCC) of P. bovis positive samples were significantly higher than those of P. bovis negative samples (p P. bovis positive samples were significantly lower than those of P. bovis negative samples (p P. bovis infection was negatively correlated with daily milk yield, 305-day milk yield, peak milk yield, and days to peak milk yield (p p Prototheca mastitis and developing more effective strategies for the prevention of P. bovis infections.

Keywords

• <i>Prototheca bovis</i>
• dairy cows
• mastitis
• dairy herd improvement index
• milk production