Short communication
Efficacy of an herbal granule as treatment option for neonatal Tibetan Lamb diarrhea under field conditions
Highlights
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- We tested the clinical effect of an herbal granule for treatment neonatal Tibetan lamb diarrhea under field conditions.
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- We provided evidence for a beneficial clinical effect of the herbal granule for treatment diarrhea in lambs.
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- Herbal granule could represent an effective treatment strategy for neonatal lamb diarrhea.
Abstract
Diarrhea
is the leading cause of death in neonatal lambs. Herbal remedies are
believed to address the conditions. We tested whether an herbal granule
had a beneficial efficacy on neonatal lamb diarrhea in this study. The
herbal granule was extracted from a combination of Coptis chinensi, Magnolia officinalis, Atractylodes lancea, Prunus mume and Poria cocos
with a concentration of 1.0 g crude herb/g. Two hundred and sixty-six
3–10 day old lambs within 24 h from their first onset of diarrhea were
randomly divided into one of two treatment groups (A and B), with
animals receiving either herbal granule orally in group A (n=117) or oxytetracycline and pepsin orally in group B (n=109)
two times daily for a maximum of 5 days at which time lambs were
eligible for exit. Thirty lambs with no clinically visible pathological
conditions and with no diarrhea diagnosis were availed as the normal
controls (group C) to evaluate the growth performance of lamb herds
during the 45-days following the treatment. Although statistically
non-significant (P=0.063), more lambs (103/117) recovered from
diarrhea in group A than in group B (85/109). We found that lambs
treated with the herbal granule experienced reduced days to recovery
from diarrhea (3.1±0.8 vs. 3.5±0.6 days, P<0.01), reduced the diarrhea-associated mortality (5.1% vs. 13.8%, P<0.05), and reduced recurrence rate (8.7% vs. 24.4%, P<0.01)
during the diarrhea episode compared to the controls in group B. The
live body weight of lambs were higher in group A than in group B at days
15 (4.1±0.9 vs. 4.1±1.1 kg, P<0.05), 30 (6.8±1.0 vs. 6.3±1.3 kg, P<0.01) and 45 (10.7±1.3 vs. 8.7±1.7 kg, P<0.01) following the treatment. Additionally, the live body weight of lambs at days 45 (10.7±1.3 kg vs. 10.6±1.2 kg, P>0.05)
following the treatment were higher in group A than in group C. Herbal
granule used in this study might have a beneficial clinical effect under
these study circumstances. Thus, herbal granule could represent a
potential effective treatment strategy for neonatal lamb diarrhea.
Keywords
- Diarrhea;
- Herbal therapy;
- Lamb;
- Alternative remedies
- Corresponding author. Tel.:
+86 931 2115268; fax: +86 931 2115268.
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- Shengkun Li and Dongan Cui contributed equally to this work.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
