Blood calcium and phosphorus concentrations in cows with left displaced abomasum

Abomasal displacement is one of the most important disorders of the digestive tract in high-yield dairy cows. The etiology and pathogenesis of its occurrence has not been fully clarified to this day. The work examines calcaemia and phosphataemia in cows during the antepartal and postpartal periods and their connection with the incidence of abomasal displacement. The experiment covered 30 cows in advanced stages of gravidity. Blood samples were taken two weeks before expected parturition and two weeks after calving. In all blood samples (taken antepartal and postpartal), concentrations of calcium and an organic phosphorus were determined using a commercial test package (Bio-Merieux). Following parturition, left displacement of the abomasums was established in seven (23.33 %) of the 30 cows covered by the experiment (experimental group). The remaining 23 cows in the experiment were clinically healthy, they were placed in a group and represented control animals. The average value of calcaemia for the control group of cows during the antepartal period was 2.72±0.25 mmol/l, and of phosphataemia 2.04±0.25 mmol/l. In the same cows postpartum, average calcaemia values were 2.46±0.22 mmol/l and phosphataemia 1.85±0.29 mmol/l. The average antepartal value for calcaemia in the experimental group of cows was 2.51±0.25 mmol/l, and for phosphataemia 1.73± 0.22 mmol/l. The average values for this group of cows postpartally was 2.13±0.31 mmol/l for calcaemia and 1.43±0.24 mmol/l for phosphataemia. The differences between the concentration values for calcium and phosphorus obtained postpartally between the experimental and control groups were statistically significant.