Effect of freezing and preincubaton on isolation of coagulase-negative staphylococci from ewes’ milk samples

Abstract

Milk samples from 45 halves were collected from lactating ewes to evaluate the effect of freezing and incubation of the whole milk on the qualitative results of bacteriologic culture. Thus, these milk samples were submitted to the following treatments: standard culture technique (T1), incubation for 18h at 37°C (T2) and thawing at -20°C for 24h (T3). After these periods, the milk samples from T2 and T3 were submitted to standard culture technique. The T2 showed an increase in the proportion of coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) recovery compared to T1, although the same cannot be predicted by T3. Conversely, the T2 allows the growth of some bacteria present in clinically healthy teats ducts as Bacillus spp.. The results of the present study indicated that the incubation of the whole milk can be applied to detection of CNS in ewes’ milk in attempt to reduce the false-negative culture milk samples that can lead to a more efficient use of laboratory resources and reduce costs to herd owners.