Abstract

In dairy cattle, bedding and its management contribute predominantly to the comfort of the cow, udder health and milk quality. The aim of the study is to assess the effect of different bedding materials such as concrete floor, rubber mats, coir pith and dried solid manure on microbial counts in milk and bedding materials in crossbred dairy cows. Twenty-four crossbred cows with six animals in each group at cattle farm was selected for the study for one lactation period spread over three different seasons. The control group (T₁) was maintained in concrete floor without any bedding materials. In (T₂) rubber mats of 1.2 m × 1.8 m × 0.025m area were provided on concrete floor. In (T₃) coir pith and (T₄) Dried solid manure (DSM) on concrete floor was the bedding. The aerobic plate count (APC), coliform count (CC) and total yeast and mould count (TYMC) were assessed in bedding materials to determine the microbial counts.Concrete floor had the highest overall mean APC of 22.44 ± 0.27while coir pith had the lowest overall mean APC of 10.19 ± 0.25×10⁵cfu/g with significant difference (P<0.01). The overall mean APC in rubber mats (17.21 ± 0.85) was significantly higher (P<0.01) than DSM bedding12.17 ± 0.61×10⁵ cfu/g. The cows maintained on concrete floor had the lowest overall daily milk yield (8.66 ± 0.22) while the cows on coir pith had the highest yield (9.98 ± 0.30).

Keywords : Crossbred cows-bedding systems-microbial counts-bedding materials