PREVALENCE OF ENDOMETRITIS IN ARGENTINE HOLANDO COWS FROM THE SOUTHERN SANTA FE DAIRY BASIN, ARGENTINA, ACCORDING TO TIME OF YEAR AND BODY CONDITION

Abstract

Endometritis is the inflammation of the uterine mucosa, which is defined as clinical endometritis (CE) when it presents clinical signs or subclinical endometritis (SE) in the absence of these signs. The objective of this work was to evaluate the prevalence of clinical and subclinical endometritis in Holando Argentino cows from the Santa Fe Sur dairy basin, Argentina, and assess its association with season and body condition. A total of 146 Holando Argentino dairy cows (Bos taurus) from three dairy farms in Santa Fe were evaluated and classified into three groups according to discharge type and cytobrush (CB) reading (PMN N ? 5%): healthy (discharge without pus and CB negative), subclinical endometritis (discharge without pus and CB positive) and clinical endometritis (purulent discharge with CB positive). The cows were divided into three groups according to the sampling season: Group 1 (autumn), Group 2 (winter), and Group 3 (spring). The prevalence of endometritis in the dairy basin of Santa Fe, Argentina, was 25% for uterine system (ES) and 28% for endometritis (EC), considering all groups in the study. In cows with zero discharge, the prevalence of ES was 35%, a higher value than previously recorded for the area. Differences were found among the evaluated groups (p=0.0001). The best reproductive performance was observed in Groups 1 and 3, associated with higher body condition scores. On the contrary, in Group 2, only 34% of cows exhibited a healthy uterine status, and 66% developed some type of endometritis. The cold season showed the highest percentage of uterine diseases and the lowest body condition scores. Therefore, it is concluded that both season and body condition influence the prevalence of endometritis.