Bacterial Isolates From The Cervical Mucus of Dairy Cattle at Follicular and Luteal Phases

The research aimed to identify the bacteria present in the reproductive tract of dairy cattle at follicular and luteal phases of the estrus cycle. Seven samples of cervical mucus were each obtained from the reproductive tract, at follicular and luteal phase, of fourteen healthy cattle, 2-3 years of age, with body condition scores of 2.0-8.3. Sporet, motility, triple sugar iron agar, mannitol and glucose tests were done to obtain gram characteristics and bacterial morphology, which enabled identiftcation at the genus level. Non-speciftc bacteria isolated at follicular phase were Staphylococcus (50%), Corynebacterium (25%) and Escherichia (25%). At luteal phase, Staphylococcus (45.5%), Escherichia (45.5%) and Corynebacterium (9%) were isolated. The results suggest that a number of bacteria can be found in the reproductive tract of dairy cattle, both at follicular phase and luteal phase. Key words: bacteria, dairy cattle, follicular phase, luteal phase, reproductive trac