THE EFFECT OF CAESAREAN SECTION ON CERVICAL BACTERIAL FLORA AND POSTPARTUM PERIOD IN NUBIAN GOATS

Abstract

A total of 82 cervical swabs were collected from 10 post-parturient Nubian goats including: 38 cervical swabs from five Nubian goats which were kidded normally (control group) and 44 cervical swabs from post-parturient Caesarean sectioned Nubian goats (C.S group). The specimens were collected, starting from the second day after kidding till the goat came into the first observed heat. These swabs were collected from Nubian goats kept at the Sudan University Farm at Hilat Kuku. The isolates that were recovered from these two groups were 104 constituting 10 different genera. They included Bacillus spp, Bordetella spp, Corynebacterium spp, Escherichia spp, Gemella spp, Klebsiella spp, Microccocus spp, Proteus spp, Staphylococcus spp and Streptococcus spp. The organisms isolated from C.S group constituted 59.62 % and 40.38 % were from the control group. It was noticed that four goats in the control group were free from the organisms as early as day 13, 21 and day 26 and only one goat continued to show organisms till the signs of oestrus were observed, while in the C.S group four goats continued to host organisms till the signs of oestrus were observed and only one goat was free from organisms at day 21. Depending on these observations, the post-partum period in the normally kidded Nubian goats ranged between 13-36 days (23.4 ± 8.46) and between 21-41 days (35 ± 8.22) in the C.sectioned Nubian goats and the difference between the two groups was significant (P < 0.05). The organisms common between the two groups included: Bacillus cereus, E.coli, Escherichia fergusonii, Staphylococcus chromogens and Streptococcus faecalis.The genera isolated only from the control group included: Gemella spp and Klebsiella spp, and those isolated specifically from the C.S group included: Bordetella spp, Corynebacterium spp and Proteus spp, and most of Staphylococcus chromogens isolations were recovered from the C.S group (25.8% from C.S while 7.14% were isolated from the control group). It could be concluded from this study that the C.S leads to significant prolongation of the post-partum period in the Nubian goats, thus it could increase the kidding interval, .The pathogenic organisms isolated during the post-partal period in operated goats were more than those in normally kidded Nubian goats.