ABSTRACT
The aim of the present work was the study of microbiological analysis, strip cup test, and California Mastitis Test of milk samples from buffalo cows. The mammary quarters were submitted to strip cup test and CMT and 262 milk samples were collected from buffalo cows for microbiological analysis. In the strip cup test, 99.6% of the samples had negative results. In the CMT, the negative results were observed in 88,2% of the samples; traces (8%), 1+ positive (1.5%), 2+ positive (1.15%) and 3+ positive (1.15%). The microbiological analysis resulted in samples with no microorganism growth (75.6%); Staphylococcus spp. (11.8%); Corynebacterium spp. (7.3%) and Streptococcus spp. (3.1%) and associated microorganism growth (1.15%). It follows that the buffalo herds studied showed a low rate of clinical and subclinical mastitis. The CMT and microbiological analysis demonstrated that there may be a high frequency of carriers animals in these herds or that the CMT is not a good test for mastitis screening in buffaloes, which underscores the importance of adopting preventive procedures to guarantee the quality and innocuousness of the product and its derivatives.
KEY WORDS
Bubalus bubalis
; milk; mastitis; CMT; microbiological analysis; tamis