Researches Regarding the Influence of Calving Interval on the Number of Somatic Cells during Lactation in Romanian Black and White Cows

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to study the influence of calving interval on the number of somatic cells from milk in Romanian Black and White cows. The study was conducted on a total of 125 lactations from 92 cows. Data were recorded and statistically analyzed by ANOVA/MANOVA method determining the means and dispersion indices. The results indicated that calving interval influenced significantly (p < 0.05) changes in the somatic index between calving interval below 350 days and calving interval between 351 and 450 days (0.33). Milk produced from cows with calving interval below 350 days had the smallest somatic index (5,33) which corresponds to a number of somatic cells around 214000 cells/ml. Cows with calving interval between 351 and 450 days had the highest value of the somatic index 5.67, which corresponds to a concentration of 468000 somatic cells/ml.

Keywords

• calving interval
• dairy cows
• romanian black and white breed
• somatic cells