The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of four non-antibiotic antibacterials alone or in combination with cephradine in buffaloes on milk yield of mastitis affected quarters. For this purpose, 270 clinically mastitic quarters were grouped in randomized pattern. Non-antibiotic antibacterials viz., 2.5% chlorpromazine (2 ml), 4% lidocaine (10 ml), 10% povidone-iodine (10 ml) and 99.5% dimethylsulphoxide (20 ml) alone and in combination with first generation cephalosporin (cephradine 500 mg) were instilled into clinically mastitic quarters daily for five days. The group administered cephradine alone served as control. Mean milk yield (L/quarter per day) was recorded before administration of treatment and over a period of 4 weeks post initiation of treatment. Among the 4 non-antibiotic antibacterials tested alone, chlorpromazine (CPZ) showed significantly higher (P<0.05) recuperative effect on the milk yield of clinically mastitic quarters of dairy buffaloes. However, dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO) when infused alone, further aggravated (P<0.05) the milk yield loss, indicating negative effect on milk yield improvement. Adjuncting cephradine with each of the non-antibiotic antibacterials, the lidocaine-cephradine group showed the highest effect (p<0.05) on net recovery of milk yield on day 28 post initiation of treatment. It was concluded that that CPZ can be used in clinical mastitis in buffaloes as a low cost alternative to expensive branded antibiotics. Further, the use of lidocaine with cepheradnie was superior to all other combination regimens in milk yield recovery.

Key words: Non-antibiotic antibacterials, Milk yield, Mastitis, Dairy buffalo