Incidence, Causes and Treatment of Ketosis in Lactating Bovines

Abstract

The demand of energy is increased during transition and early phase of lactation due to the synthesis of milk for calf. However, the energy requirement is not met because of the decreased dry matter intake. The mobilization of adipose tissue and release of free fatty acids compensate the additional energy requirements as a result of which the body weight also declines. It may lead to the incidence of metabolic disorders like retention of fetal membrane, milk fever, subclinical or clinical ketosis, mastitis, metritis etc. The incidence of these disorders is interlinked with negative energy balance. The incidence of ketosis varies from herd to herd due to the different management factors and varying climates. The clinical ketosis results in significant losses in milk yield and negatively impact the reproductive efficiency of animals resulting in huge economic loss in terms of income to dairy farmers. Therefore, the detection of ketosis at subclinical stage is important to minimize the losses and maintain good health of lactating bovines.  The incidence of ketosis during different physiological stages and the factors making animals prone to ketosis have been discussed in the present review.