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Sodium reduces somatic cell counts in the milk of dairy cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

C.J.C. Phillips ,
C.P. Chiy  and
D. Arney
C.J.C. Phillips
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 OES, UK School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK
C.P. Chiy
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 OES, UK School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK
D. Arney
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK Institute of Animal Production, University of Agriculture, Tartu, Estonia
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Extract

The grazing dairy cow is at risk of sodium (Na) deficiency because of the large output of Na in the milk and low sodium concentration in forages (Chiy and Phillips, 1995). During mastitis plasma containing Na, Cl, immunoglobulins and other blood proteins leaks into the mammary gland and secretion declines, thereby reducing K and lactose concentrations in the milk (Schar and Funk, 1986). The Na content of mastitic milk is usually increased by 150-300%, which helps to limit the growth of bacteria, such as Streptococci, that are sensitive to the Na concentration of their growth medium (Skarvdova, 1989). Such an increase in Na output could easily create a negative Na balance and, as the cow has negligible reserves of this mineral, effective control of the intramammary infection may depend on adequate Na status (Janota-Bassalik et al., 1985).

Type
Dairy
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1996 , March 1996 , pp. 93
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1996

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References

Chiy, P.C. and Phillips, C.J.C. 1995. Sodium in ruminant nutrition, reproduction and health. In Sodium in Agriculture, (ed. Phillips, CJC and Chiy, PC), pp 107–144. Chalcombe Publications, Canterbury Google Scholar
Janota-Bassalik, L., Glabowna, M., Sender, G., Wojcik, A., Lukaszewicz, M. 1985. Prediction of resistance to mastitis. Kieler Milchwirtschaftliche Forschungsberichte 37: 511–514.Google Scholar
Schar, J. and Funk, H. 1986. Effect of subclinical mastitis on milk plasminogen and plasmin compared with that on sodium, antitrypsin and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase. Journal of Dairy Research 53: 515–528 10.1017/S0022029900033045CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skarvdova, O. 1989. Isolation and characteristics of nutritionally variant streptococci of animal origin. Veterinarni Medicina 34: 257–266.Google Scholar