author(s)
Ambika, Prashant Waghmare, Vivek M Patil, Sandeep Halmandge, MD Suranagi and Basavaraj Awati

abstract
Subclinical mastitis (SCM) causes severe economic losses in dairy cattle if left undetected. The present study was conducted on 125 lactating Deoni cows in 13 villages of Bidar district of Karnataka, part of the project "Field Performance Recording of Deoni cattle in Bidar District" under Rashtriya Gokul Mission, to compare the efficiency of different techniques in detecting SCM under field conditions. A milk sample of 50 ml was collected from each animal to conduct California Mastitis Test (CMT), Mastrip test and Electrical Conductivity test (EC). Samples positive for subclinical mastitis (SCM) by either of the tests were subjected to Somatic Cell Count. The cut-off value for the different tests for confirmation of SCM was set at 5.5mS/cm for EC and 2,00,000 cells/ml of milk for SCC, based on observations of Deoni cattle milk carried out at Livestock Research & Information Centre (Deoni), KVAFSU Bidar. The overall incidence of SCM was found to be 22.22 percent, with values ranging from 0 to 100% in different villages. The accuracy of CMT, EC and Mastrip tests with respect to the reference standard i.e. SCC was found to be 85.71, 28.57 and 100.00%, respectively. Mastrip test was found to be a rapid and efficient technique to detect SCM in Deoni cattle under field conditions.