White side test: A simple and rapid test for evaluation of nonspecific bacterial genital infections of repeat breeding cattle

The objective of the present study was to determine the grades of nonspecific bacterial infection of genitalia of repeat breeding cattle by a simple and rapid test under field condition. For this purpose, a total of 100 crossbred Jersey cows comprising of 80 repeat breeding animals presented for treatment and 20 normal cyclic (control group) animals presented for artificial insemination at their first service were selected. Estrual cervical mucus from all the animals was collected at 8 to 12 hr after the onset of behavioral estrus and subjected to white side test (WST) and bacteriological examination. The results of WST showed only 15% of control group had infection but the remaining 85% were free of it. In contrast, the majority of repeat breeding animals (57/80) showed infection (71.25%) and only 28.75% animals were free of infection. In bacterial culture, 60 (75.00%) from the 80 repeat breeding animals were found positive, and 20 (25.00%) were free of bacteria. All the three samples of control group that showed no color reaction in WST had also no growth in bacterial culture. The WST results showed a positive (p < 0.01) correlation of 0.48 with bacterial culture. It is thus concluded that under field condition WST can be used as a prime modality for ascertaining nonspecific bacterial infection of repeat breeding cattle before subjecting them to any antibiotic therapy thereby reducing the cost of diagnosis and treatment.