Evaluation of surf field test and california mastitis test for diagnosis of sub clinical mastitis in Crossbred Cows

A total of 200 quarter milk samples from 50 crossbred dairy cows were subjected to California mastitis test (CMT) and surf field mastitis (SFMT) test to evaluate the efficacy of 3% solution of household detergent viz., Surf Excel in detecting sub clinical mastitis in Malnad areas of Karnataka. During screening around 5.5 per cent of teats were found to be blocked/obstructed and were not considered for screening of sub clinical mastitis. Results showed that 32.32 per cent (61/189) and 28.63 per cent (54/189) prevalence of SCM in cows after detection with CMT and SFMT, respectively. The quarter prevalence rates were higher for the hind quarters (33.57%) compared to fore quarters (27.40%) in both tests. Further, the overall incidence was higher in left hind quarter (35.87%) followed by right hind quarter (31.92%), left fore quarter (29.17%) and right fore quarter (25.00%) for both tests. The study concludes that the closely similar diagnostic efficiency of SFMT to CMT together with inexpensive and ready availability of SFMT reagent and suggest that SFMT can be used as a cheaper, user-friendly alternative animal-side subclinical mastitis diagnostic test in rural areas.