Abstract
Background:
Over the past decades, Capparis spinosa has been reported as a therapeutic traditional medicine to relieve various ailments. Mastitis causes a decrease in milk production and treated usually using of injectable and intra-mammary antibiotics.
Aim:
Investigating the therapeutic effect of ethanolic root extract of Capparis spinosa on subclinical mastitis in sheep.
Methods:
A total of 164 lactating ewes were selected randomly from the flocks found in some areas belongs to Al-Najaf City (Najaf, Iraq) during September-December (2022). Each study animal was subjected for direct sampling of milk prior, and once each week for 6 weeks (42 days) post treatment to be tested directly by the California mastitis test (CMT).
Results:
Concerning phytochemical testing of ethanolic roots extract of C. spinosa, the findings were revealed a significant increase in concentration of alkaloids, flavonoids, polyphenols and tannins when compared to other components; coumarins, saponin, glycosides, amino acid and steroid. In this study, there were 44.51% infected ewes with subclinical mastitis involving 25.61%, 13.41% and 5.49% for scores 1, 2 and 3, respectively. In comparison with pre-treatment week, insignificant alteration was seen in values of all scores of the therapeutic week 1. However, significant differences were initiated in values of score 0 in the week 2; score 0 and score 2 in the week 3; score 0, score 1 and score 2 in the week 4; and values of all scores in weeks 5 and 6.
Conclusion:
This represents the first Iraqi study aimed for treatment of subclinical mastitis in sheep using the root extract of C. spinosa. Phytochemical testing of ethanolic extract revealed the presence of variable amounts of chemical compounds that reflect their effects on treated animals through decreasing the number of infected ewes with the disease. Moreover, studies are of great importance to detect the effect of other parts of C. spinosa such as leaves and seeds on the disease and other animal diseases.

Key words: Caper, Ewes, Herbal therpay, California mastitis test, Somatic cell count