Aetiology of bovine digital dermatitis in Australia

Bovine digital dermatitis (BDD) is an important cause of lameness in dairy cows worldwide. However, there is very little known about this disease in Australian herds, which are predominantly managed on pasture. The primary objectives of this study were to describe the presence and prevalence of BDD in Australian dairy herds and to characterize the microbiota of healthy skin and M4 lesions of BDD-affected, pasture-managed cows. Cows from 71 dairy herds were examined at milking time to identify the presence of BDD lesions. Biopsy samples (n = 60) were collected from cows with and without BDD-lesions in seven pasture-based herds. The microbiota in the superficial and deep strata of each tissue biopsy were characterized via sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the bacterial ribosomal RNA gene. The composition of the microbiota was significantly different between healthy skin and M4 lesions but not between superficial and deep tissue layers. Several gut- and effluent-associated bacterial taxa, including Lentimicrobium and Porphyromonas, which have previously been associated with BDD, were abundant in BDD lesions but not in control biopsies.