Nanomaterials and Essential Oils as Candidates for Developing Novel Treatment Options for Bovine Mastitis

Simple Summary Bovine mastitis is a highly prevalent and expensive illness that leads to enormous financial losses to dairy industries. Although significant progress has been made in the control and therapy of mastitis, the frequency of this disease continues to be high in livestock herds, having a negative influence on productive parameters and implicitly on economic indices in dairy farms. The opportunity to address this problem resides in the fact that a countries' share of the community market will only be maintained by increasing milk quality. It is imperative for cattle farmers, milk producers and national economies to obtain milk according to EU standards, in order for it to be valued at advantageous, competitive prices. This objective may be achieved by keeping the incidence of mastitis under very strict control, using novel treatment options. Nanomaterials have been used for diagnosis and therapy in the human medical field, while their application in veterinary medicine and animal production is still relatively new. Nanotechnology, however, is a rapidly growing field, offering the possibility of manufacturing new materials at the nanoscale level, with the formidable potential to revolutionize the agri-food sector by offering novel treatment options for prevalent and expensive illnesses such as bovine mastitis. Since current treatments are becoming progressively more ineffective in resistant bacteria, the development of innovative products based on both nanotechnology and phytotherapy may directly address a major global problem, antimicrobial resistance, while providing a sustainable animal health solution that supports the production of safe and high-quality food products. This review summarizes the challenges encountered presently in the treatment of bovine mastitis, emphasizing the possibility of using new-generation nanomaterials (e.g., biological synthesized nanoparticles and graphene) and essential oils, as candidates for developing novel treatment options for bovine mastitis.