NUTRITIONAL FACTORS FOR UDDER INFLAMMATIO N AND INFECTION IN THE DAIRY-COW

The relationships between nutrition and udder inflammation/infection w ere studied in the dairy cow using an ecopathological approach. The st udy (enquete ecopathologique Bretagne) was performed over 4 yr in Fren ch herds with high-lactating cows. A long distribution time of Italian rye-grass silage and a low quantity of dietary cereal-based concentra tes in the first 2 months of lactation was linked with low milk leukoc yte counts, probably due to a high dietary energetic level of to a pol yunsaturated fatty acid imbalance and a subsequent decrease in the syn thesis of leukotriene LTB4. In the late gestation period, a long distr ibution time of fresh English rye-grass, which induced high uraemia an d a larger distribution of vitamins A, D and E, was related to lower f requencies of major pathogens in the milk.