Somatic cell count (Scc)‎ of milk and its correlation with body mass index (Bmi)‎ in awassi lambs

Abstract EN

A flock of the local breed of Awassi (Ovis aries) at the domestic animal farm which belonged to the Department of Animal Resources at the College of Agriculture at Baghdad University ,Iraq , was used in this study over the period (from 1/12/2013 to 1/4/2014) .

From a minimum of the Day 10 up to Day 90 after lambing (after Birth to Weaning Age) , a total of 240 milk samples from apparently healthy ewes were being milked half-udder by half-udder (from the Left & Right udder halves) from a (60) dairy Awassi Ewes of the major flock were surveyed .

These 60 ewes which were being had a single male lamb birth (Primiparous native) were randomly picked out from the flock and sub divided in to (4) groups each with (15) ewes at the same age as possible as ( ≥2 , ≥3 , ≥4 & ≥5 ) years old which were in various stages of lactation as the ( 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th ) Lactation respectively.

Upon carrying out during the morning milking by hand , the samples were being taken from the milk of each half-udder in order to investigate their Direct Microscopic Somatic Cells Count (DMSCC) after California Mastitis Test (CMT) Screening examination of each ewe individually , to investigate SCC increasing due to Ovine Sub-clinical mastitis together with simple Correlation coefficients (r) between the Estimated study Parameters which include the recording of the (Weight (g)) & (Height (cm)) of the Lambs (at Day 1 , Day 10 & Day 90) to calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI(g/cm2)) .

Also the effects of some factors on those traits were being investigated.