Determination of subacute ruminal acidosis incidence in some dairy cattle farm in Aydin

Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is becoming an increasingly important disorder of ruminant animals. This study aimed to determine the incidence of SARA in some dairy cattle businesses in Aydın by means of different biomarkers. Eight different dairy cattle farms operated by total mixture ration (TKR) and located in Aydın province were included in the study. In each group, group I early lactation (0-70 days) and II. Two different groups were formed in group intermediate lactation (70-140 days) (at least n = 12 in each group). In the thesis, rumen pH (digital pH meter), number of rumen contractions (fonendeskop), fecal scoring (inspection), body condition score (Edmonson method) were used as descriptive biomarkers. In the study, 15/184 (8.15%) animals were SARA positive (pH ˂ 5.5) (12 in early lactation, 3 in middle lactation) as well as two different farms (25% D and F farms) Some of the identified cases were found to be negative for SARA and 167 for SARA. The pH values of rumen fluid were found to be 6.54 ± 0.36 in healthy animals and 5.28 ± 0.17 (p˂0.01) in SARA-diagnosed animals. A statistically significant difference (p ˂0.01) was observed between 9.47 ± 1.13 for healthy contractions and 7.01 ± 0.7 for SARA diagnoses. The median value of the fecal score was 3 ± 0,009 in healthy animals and 2.5 ± 0.033 (p ˂0.01) in SARA-diagnosed animals. When rumen pH was evaluated for body condition score (BCS), the average of cows with BCS between 3˂ BCS ˂4 was higher than the other BCS groups. In addition, 12 of 15 animals diagnosed with SARA were found to have BCS 4.25 and 3 BCS 4. When the correlations between the rumen pH values and the biomarkers of the SARS diagnosis were examined, the relation between the rumen pH value and the rumen contraction was found to be 0.246 and 0.647 (P ¼ 0.01), respectively, The correlation between the two characteristics in cows is remarkable compared to healthy animals. Again, the relationship between rumen pH and BCS was statistically significant in both cases (P ¼ 0.01, 0.414 to 0.781 for healthy and SARA-diagnosed cows, respectively). The relationship between the fecal score and the rumen pH was taken into account in terms of both health status, with a statistically significant value (0.222) in the healthy animals and a negative correlation (-0.428) in the animals diagnosed with SARA (P 0.05). As a result, the existence of SARA has been revealed for the first time in the enterprises located in Aydın province borders. In our study, the correlations between biomarkers related to SARA (rumen pH, rumen contractions, fecal score, BCS) were examined and early preventive measures could be evaluated for diagnosis and the disease could be prevented. Keywords: Aydın, dairy cattle, subacute ruminal acidosis, incidence, biomarker