Allicin as a Treatment for Chronic Subclinical Mastitis in Dairy Cows

Abstract

At 7 dairy cow farms, that had access to a Lely Industries N.V. Astronaut A4 automatic milking system including a MQC-C2 udder somatic cell count sensor, 27 pairs of cows with subclinical mastitis were selected. Within each pair, one cow was orally treated with Allimax (Allimax-group), a bolus based on stabilized allicin. Allicin is the active substance in Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic. The other cow within each pair was not treated at the start of the experiment (control-group). During 28 days and at each milking, udder somatic cell count (SCC) was measured with a MQC-C2 sensor in all selected cows. Furthermore, the SCC was measured for each cow during the milk production registration (MPR) control performed by the Dutch dairy cattle breeding organization CRV every 4 to 6 weeks. During the trial, mean SCC decreased for both groups, but the decrease in udder somatic cell count observed in the Allimax-group was not significantly larger compared to the control-group for both the MPR and the MQC-C2 measurements. At t=0, t=7 and t=28 (t in days after treatment) milk samples were taken and analyzed with qPCR for the presence of RNA of mastitis-associated pathogenic bacteria. No significant over-time reduction effect was found in the quantity of RNA detected in the samples in the Allimax-group compared to the control-group.