This study aimed to calculate the proportion of antibiotic resistance profiles of Enterococcus faecium, E. faecalis, and E. durans isolated from traditional sheep and goat cheeses obtained from a selected border area of Slovakia with Hungary (region Slanské vrchy). A total of 110 Enterococcus sp. were isolated from cheese samples, of which 52 strains (E. faecium (12), E. faecalis (28), E. durans (12)) were represented. After isolation and identification by polymerase chain reaction and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry, the enterococci (E. faecium, E. faecalis, and E. durans) were submitted to susceptibility tests against nine antimicrobial agents. In general, strains of E. faecalis were more resistant than E. durans and E. faecium. A high percentage of resistance was noted in E. faecalis to rifampicin (100%), vancomycin (85.7%), teicoplanin (71.4%), erythromycin (71.4%), minocycline (57.1%), nitrofurantoin (57.1%), ciprofloxacin (14.3%), and levofloxacin (14.3%). E. durans showed resistance to rifampicin (100%), teicoplanin (100%), vancomycin (66.7%), erythromycin (66.7%), nitrofurantoin (66.7%), and minocycline (33.3%), and E. faecium showed resistance to vancomycin, teicoplanin, and erythromycin (100%). Multidrug-resistant strains were confirmed in 80% of the 52 strains in this study. Continuous identification of Enterococcus sp. and monitoring of their incidence and emerging antibiotic resistance is important in order to prevent a potential risk to public health caused by the contamination of milk and other dairy products, such as cheeses, made on farm level.

Early identification of mastitis is a serious challenge for dairy farmers and veterinarians in ensuring the health of an animal and the hygienic quality of the produced milk. The purpose of this study was to detect the occurrence and aetiology of mastitis in a dairy herd of 15 milked cows localised in a farm in west Slovakia. During the complex investigation, 606 quarter milk samples were examined (6 quarters were discarded) and classified based on the clinical status, the presence of abnormal udder secretions, the result of the California mastitis test (CMT), the somatic cell count (SCC) and the bacteriological identification of the pathogens causing the intramammary infection (IMI). The study was augmented by the detection of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the milk and the measurements of the blood enzymatic activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) as potential biomarkers for the udder health screening. A positive CMT score was recorded in 19.5% (118) of the examined quarters and 12.5% (76) of the quarters were infected with bacterial pathogens causing latent mastitis (LM; 1.3%), subclinical mastitis (SM; 8.3%), and clinical mastitis (CM; 2.9%). The most commonly isolated bacteria from the infected quarters were coagulase-negative staphylococci (55.2%), Staphylococcus aureus (11.8%) and streptococci (10.5%). The concentration of MDA and SCC were significantly higher from both the SM and CM cases than in the milk samples from the healthy cows, while the blood activities of SOD and GPx were lower in the cows with CM compared to the healthy cows. The higher MDA concentrations in the SM and CM milk observed in this study showed the presence of an oxidative stress in the infected milk, accompanied by a decrease in the antioxidative enzymatic activity in the blood of the cows. Therefore, the measurement of the milk MDA concentration and the activity of the blood SOD and GPx may prove insightful for the better screening of the udder health in the early diagnosis of mastitis.

Dudriková (2018) Application of multiple factor analysis for the descriptive sensory evaluation and instrumental measurements of bryndza cheese as affected by vacuum packaging,

Bryndza is a natural, white, mature and spreadable kind of cheese, and since 2008, it has been manufactured in specified mountainous areas of the Slovak Republic with Protected Geographical Indication. The aim of this work was to provide useful information about the microbial, physico‐chemical and sensory characteristics of bryndza, taking into consideration the variabilities related to the traditional methods of production technology of three bryndza cheese varieties. Statistically significant differences were observed in bryndza cheese production methods in chemical parameters of NaCl and malondialdehyde content (P < 0.05) and in the microbial presence of Enterococcus spp. (P < 0.001) and Staphylococcus spp. (P < 0.01).

Given growing concerns about the use of antibiotics in the treatment of animals, identifying organic alternatives as feed additives to improve animal health and the development of immune responses has become of interest in dairy farming. Humic acids (HA) seem to be a suitable alternative with a favorable impact on the health and production parameters of animals. This study aimed to determine the effects of an HA supplemented diet on milk parameters as well as the effects on somatic cell count (SCC) and the occurrence of mastitis in dairy cows during the peripartum period. Twenty dairy cows in the last stage of pregnancy were selected from a herd of 140 cows. The selected cows were randomly divided into two groups: control (C) and experimental (E). The two groups were fed the same feed mixture and group E was additionally supplemented with HA at a total dose of 100 g per cow per day during the last 50 days of pregnancy. The milk parameters (dry matter, lactose, fat, crude protein, casein and milk urea) and SCC of every cow, and the presence of mastitis, were checked on days 10 and 30 during the first month of lactation. The results of the study show that dietary supplementation with HA significantly reduced the milk urea (MU) content and SCC on the 10th day after calving but did not affect the other milk compositions. In addition to the decreased MU and SCC, the number of positive quarters detected by the California Mastitis Test was reduced by 20.0% and the occurrence of mastitis caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS). Based on the obtained results we can conclude that the addition of HA stabilizes the nutrient digestion, as was confirmed by a reduced MU content in the supplemented group. Their indirect beneficial effects improved the development of immune responses, resulting in decreased SCC and the occurrence of mastitis caused by CNS.