RESEARCHES REGARDING THE SEASON INFLUENCE ON SOMATIC CELL COUNT IN MILK DURING LACTATION IN ROMANIAN BLACK AND WHITE COWS

Simona Baul, L.T. Cziszter, S. Acatincăi, T. Cismaş, D. Gavojdian, I. Tripon, Silvia Erina, G. Răducan

Abstract
Research aimed at studying the influence of calving season on milk somatic cell count in the Romanian Black Spotted breed. The study was conducted on a total of 125 lactations from 92 cows. Somatic cell counts (SCC) of milk was transformed into somatic index (SI) under regulations DHIA (Dairy Herd Improvement Agency). Data were recorded and statistically analyzed by ANOVA/MANOVA method determining the means and dispersion indices. The results indicated that parturition season influenced significantly (p<0.01) changes in the somatic index between summer and autumn season (-0.36), between winter and autumn (-0.44) and between spring and autumn season (-0.51). Milk produced from cows that have calved in the spring had the lowest initial somatic index (5.34), which corresponds to somatic cells 219,000 cells/ml. Cows calved in autumn had the highest value of the original somatic index by 5.86, which corresponds to a concentration of 724 000 somatic cells/ml. In conclusion, we demonstrated that the most accepted criteria for indication of udder health in a cattle ranch specializing in the direction of milk production are somatic cell counts and milk quality.

Key words: dairy cows, season influence, Romanian Black and White, somatic cell count