Therapeutic effectiveness of zinc and copper alone and in combination with enrofloxacin for the treatment of sub-clinical mastitis in dairy buffaloes

The present study was designed to compare the therapeutic effectiveness of zinc (zn) and copper (cu) alone and in combination with enrofloxacin for the treatment of sub-clinical mastitis in dairy buffaloes. out of 152 lactating buffaloes,45 suffering from sub-clinical mastitis were selected on the basis of positive surf field mastitis test (sfmt). these buffaloes were randomly divided into five equal groups (a-e). buffaloes of group a were supplemented with znso4 @ 1 g per animal per day,group b cuso4 @ 1 g per animal per day for 14 days. group c was injected with enrofloxacin @ 2.5 mg/kg b.w through intramuscular route for 5 consecutive days. buffaloes of group d were administered with intramuscular injection of enrofloxacin @ 2.5 mg/kg b.w for five consecutive days along with the supplementation of znso4 (1 g per day) and cuso4 (1 g per day) for 14 days. group e was kept as untreated control. milk and blood samples were collected at day 0,7 and 14 post treatment for various tests like somatic cell count (scc),sfmt based and bacteriological based cure rates,total leukocyte count (tlc),lymphocyte percentage,serum zinc and copper concentration. the scc in milk decreased significantly (p<0.01) in combined therapy group d at day 14 post treatment. serum zinc and copper concentrations increased significantly (p<0.01) in supplemented groups at day 7 and 14 post treatment. tlc and lymphocytes percentage was significantly higher (p<0.01) in combined therapy at day 7 and 14 post treatment. percent cure rate on the basis of sfmt and bacteriological based cure rate was higher in group d. milk yield of affected quarter was improved significantly (p<0.01) in the group d and other groups showed non-significant (p>0.05) improvement at day 14 post treatment. it may be concluded that the combined therapy was better than alone therapy of zinc sulphate,copper sulphate and enrofloxacin.