- a Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
- b Engineering & Technology Research Center of Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730050, PR China
- c College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, PR China
- Received 3 June 2016, Revised 17 December 2016, Accepted 17 December 2016, Available online 28 December 2016
Highlights
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- Herbal powder treatment could hasten the separation and expulsion of the retrained placenta in cows.
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- Herbal powder treatment could lower puerperal metritis risk in cows with retained placenta.
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- Herbal powder might have great potential for the medical management of cows with retained placenta.
Abstract
Cows
affected with retained placenta are at a higher risk of developing
puerperal metritis. Herbal remedies bear a high potential to treat
postpartum uterine diseases in cows. The aim of this randomized clinical
trial was to compare an herbal powder and ceftiofur hydrochloride in
the treatment of cows affected with retained placenta and for puerperal
metritis prevention. The herbal powder was prepared from a combination
of Leonurus artemisia (Laur.) S.Y. Hu F, Angelica sinensis (OLIV.) DIELS (radix), Ligusticum chuanxiong HORT (radix), Sparganiumstoloniferum (Graebn.) Buch.-Ham.exJuz (radix), Curcuma zedoaria (Christm.) ROSC (radix), Cyperu srotundus Linn. (radix), and Glycyrrhiza uralensis FISCH
(radix). A total of 157 cows diagnosed with retained placenta were
randomly divided into 2 treatment groups. Cows in the herbal group (n=85) were treated with an oral dose of 0.5 g crude herb/kg bw once daily for 1–3 day(s), and cows in the control group (n=72)
were treated with ceftiofur hydrochloride (2.2 mg/kg bw, i.m.) twice
daily for 3 consecutive days. Seventy-three cows had total expulsion of
the placenta within 72 h following initial herbal treatment, yet no cows
in the control group expelled the placenta during the same time period,
and 50 out of 73 cows achieved total expulsion of the placenta
following only one herbal treatment. The median time of retained
placenta shedding (20.0 vs. 101.5 h; P<0.01) was shorter in
the herbal group than in the control group. The logistic regression
analysis indicated that the oral administration of the herbal powder
tended to have superior clinical efficacy in metritis prevention
compared to the systemic administration of ceftiofur hydrochloride in
cows affected with retained placenta (8.2% vs. 11.1%, P=0.057,
OR 5.771) within 21 days after parturition. Additionally, fewer cows in
the herbal group required additional therapeutic antibiotics compared to
the controls (8.2% vs. 26.4%, P=0.003). Evidence from this
randomized controlled clinical trial suggested that the herbal powder is
a clinically effective treatment for retained placenta and the
prevention of puerperal metritis and, thus, might have great potential
for the medical management of retained placenta in dairy cows.
Keywords
- Retained placenta;
- Herbal remedy;
- Herbal powder;
- Oral administration;
- Dairy cow
© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
