Cultivation tests for rapid detection of mastitis pathogens in dairy cows

The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare two methods for rapid detection of udder laboratory methods for the detection of Gram-positive (staphylococci and streptococci), and Gram-negative bacteria directly under on-farm conditions. During the study, 520 cows were examined on dairy farms localized in the east of Slovakia. Subsequently, 144-quarter milk samples from the positive cows with California mastitis test scores 1-3 underwent laboratory cultivation on both rapid tests. Values obtained from these tests showed the sensitivity of positive samples using the MicroMast test at the level of 84.7% and the sensitivity of the ClearMilk test at the level of 93.1%. After biochemical and protein identification of cultured isolates, the main pathogens present on both rapid tests MicroMast and ClearMilk were identified as Staphylococcus spp. (S. aureus and S. chromogenes) and Streptococcus spp. (Str. bovis). Based on the results, both tests are comparable and therefore they can potentially be used in practice for rapid detection of udder pathogens.