The Study of the Influence of the Uterine Microbiome in Metritis on Milk Quality

The relevance of sustainable development concept of dairy farming is of great importance for improving the system of food security and food quality. Microbial contamination of cow’s milk can occur at the very first stage of its production, when it is still in the cow’s udder. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of the uterine microbiome in metritis on the quality of milk produced. Studies were conducted on 128 milk samples from 8 Holstein-Friesian cows with metritis and clinical mastitis immediately after delivery, one, two and three weeks after delivery and 16 samples of uterine contents from the same cows. Columbia agar with 5% sheep blood and McConkey agar medium were used to culture the samples. Based on the results of samples isolated from the diseased uterus and from milk samples (colostrum), representatives of selected genera of pathogens Coliform, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus were isolated. A statistically significant decrease in both the total number of isolated microorganisms and the number of representatives of individual genera of Coliform, Enterococcus, Staphylococcus and Streptococcus was observed. These results are statistically significant at P ≤ 0.5. We found a tendency of multidirectional changes in the indicators of total microbial contamination of uterine contents samples and microbial contamination of milk samples (colostrum).