Evaluating the antifungal properties of Persian Taranjebin manna and Astragalus crenaus fruit extracts on Candida species isolated from the cows' milk with subclinical mastitis

Appropriate diagnosis and treatment of subclinical mastitis caused by Candida species can have a great impact on the health of dairy cows and dairy products. However, the side effects of antifungal drugs are known as one of the main therapeutic limitations in the veterinary medicine. Therefore, the present study aims to identify Candida species in the milk of cows with subclinical mastitis using molecular methods. In addition, to investigate the antifungal properties of Persian Taranjebin manna and Astragalus crenatus fruit extracts. In this research, out of 70 raw milk, 32 samples were selected based on the excessive number of somatic cells. Primary and definitive differentiation of Candida species were conducted using chromogenic medium and PCR-RFLP, respectively. Finally, disk and well diffusion agar methods were applied to identify the effect of ethanolic and methanolic extracts at 1000, 500, and 250 mg/ml concentrations. The findings indicated that out of 15 positive samples, non-albicans species including C. kefir, C. famata, and their mixture had a higher frequency (99.33%) than C. albicans (6.67%). According to the antifungal properties measurement, the average inhibitory effect of nystatin on C. famata (28.6 mm), C. albicans (26.7 mm), and C. kefir (25.8 mm) showed the sensitivity of all three species without significant difference (P-value=0.171). However, the concentrations prepared from the both extracts did not have a significant effect compared to nystatin. Considering the variety of factors involved in the quality and effect of herbal compounds on animal pathogens, it is necessary to identify more extensive environmental factors and antifungal compounds extracted from Persian Taranjebin manna and A. crenatus fruit.