Title: Assessment of clinical and subclinical endometritis impacts on the reproductive performance and milk production of dairy cows in Brazilian herds
Abstract: Abstract Clinical endometritis (CE) and subclinical endometritis (SE) are one of the main uterine diseases in dairy cows during the puerperium period, which can directly affect milk production and fertility in dairy herds. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the CE and SE on the subsequent reproductive performance and milk production of dairy cows in Brazilian herds. A total of 279 lactating Holstein dairy cows (28 to 33 d in milk) from six commercial farms were evaluated. The cows were classified into three groups: healthy cows (without CE and SE, n = 161), cows with CE (vaginal discharge score = 3 and ≥ 18% PMNL, n = 83) and cows with SE (absence of signs of CE and > 18% PMNL, n = 35). Cows with CE and SE had a lower ( P < 0.05) conception rate at first AI than healthy cows. Furthermore, both cows with CE and SE needed more service to become pregnant and days to be pregnant ( P < 0.05) than healthy cows. Cows with CE and SE produced less milk than healthy cows. The logistic regression showed that any factor evaluated in this study were not associated with the incidence of CE and SE. In conclusion, our results reveal a negative impact of CE and SE on the reproductive performance and milk production of dairy cows.