engleski

INFLUENCE OF INFECTION WITH CAPRINE ARTHRITIS ENCEPHALITIS VIRUS ON MILK PRODUCTION OF FRENCH ALPINE GOATS IN CROATIA

In our research we wanted to explore if there was an influence of CAEV infection on estimated milk yield per lactation, length of lactation and milk composition of 259 French alpine goats from production farms in NW Croatia. Also, since our previous results indicate high frequency of clinical arthritis, our intention was to evaluate its influence as well. All goats were kept under similar intensive feeding and management conditions. Milk control was preformed using the ICAR method A4 during the year 2009. At the same time, blood samples were collected and presence of CAEV antibody in the sera was detected using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Diagnose of arthritis was noted by clinical inspection of joints. The influence of infection status on milk yield, length of lactation and milk composition (fat, protein and lactose) was tested by analysis of variance (PROC GLM). Although in some animals CAEV can be considered as the causative agent, other possible causes have not been excluded. Furthermore, number of CAEV infected animals showed no sings of clinical arthritis. Therefore, influence of infection with CAEV and clinical form of arthritis on milk yield and composition have been observed separately. CAEV was serologically confirmed in 37% of goats. In addition, 24% CAEV positive animals were expressing clinical symptoms of arthritis. Strong influence of serological status on all recorded traits has been confirmed. Presence of clinical arthritis has confirmed influence only on protein and fat content in milk indicating other possible arthritis causes with lower influence on milk production than the one assessed for CAEV infection.

clinical arthritis ; caprine arthritis encephalitis virus ; estimated milk yield ; lactation length ; milk quality ; goats

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