Investigation of the effectiveness of non-antibiotic uterus tablets in dairy cattle herds - Summary

Investigation of the effectiveness of non-antibiotic uterus tablets in dairy cattle herds - Summary

It is generally accepted in dairy farms worldwide, that amniotic membrane retention is treated with topically administered intra-uterine tablets, or intramuscularly administered antibiotics. A close relationship can be assumed between the use of antibiotics required by animal husbandry, and the ever-increasing antimicrobial resistance, both in veterinary medicine and in human health-care, therefore more and more emphasis is being placed on the development of innovative, alternative treatments, that make it possible to treat certain disorders without the use of antibiotics, such as the treatment of retained placental membrane. The use of the active ingredients of medicinal herbs, amongst other things, can be helpful in the fight against antimicrobial resistance, as they have no harmful side effects, they do not form residues, and do not have a withdrawal period.

In the course of our survey, we examined whether the intra-uterine tablet containing antibiotic as an active ingredient can be replaced by a herbal alternative (Uraksha intra-uterine tablets, Ayurvet Ltd, India) in the treatment of postpartum amniotic membrane retention in dairy cattle. We also examined how these treatments affect the ability of after-calving pregnancy in cows. All these data were compared with data available in scientific literature on post-partum antibiotic treatments in dairy cows.

With the help of an involution data sheet, we recorded the data of a total of 164 calvings between May and August 2021 on a dairy cattle farm. On this data sheet, the circumstances of the birth, the dates of the expulsion of the amniotic membranes, and the dates of the next inseminations were recorded.

In our study, we set up two study groups: the U-group (n=41), the animals diagnosed with amniotic membrane retention, and treated with Uraksha intra-uterine tablets, and the K-group (n=123) the untreated control group not diagnosed with amniotic membrane retention. We compared the data of the study groups according to two main aspects: the incidence of amniotic membrane retention and the effectiveness of repeated artificial inseminations.

Retention of the foetal membranes was determined if the foetal membranes had not been expulsed by the end of the first day after calving. In this case, we treated the animals with Uraksha intra-uterine tablets, and recorded how many days after calving the foetal membranes was expulsed. In the U-group, the foetal membranes were expulsed in the average of 2.8. days. In 14.6% of the animals of the U-group the membrane was expulsed on the 1st day after calving, in 34.2% on the 2nd day after calving, in 19.5% on the 3rd day afters calving, in 24.4% on the 4th day after calving, in 4,9% of cases on the 5th day after calving, and in 2.4% the membrane was expulsed on the 6th day after calving. In the K-group, in all cases, the foetal membranes was expulsed by the end of the day after delivery at the latest. Based on this, it can be said that the result of the group treated with Uraksha approaches the result of the healthy group with a difference of 2.2 days (P<0.001).

During the investigation, 9 animals from the K-group and 14 animals from the U-group were removed from the group due to deaths or forced culling, so the total number decreased to 141 individuals during the tests to follow (U-group: n=27 and K-group: n=114).

In relation to artificial insemination, we examined the fertilization index, the success of the first artificial insemination, the service period and the length of the period between two calvings. In case of the fertility index, both groups showed the expected results on the average: 2.4 in the U-group and 1.9 in the K-group. The proportion of first successful artificial insemination pregnancies was 37% in the U-group, and 36.8% in the K-group. In terms of percentage, the difference is not significant, but more animals in the U-group became pregnant (96.3%) compared to the K group (93%). The service period in the U-group was 72.2 days, in the K-group 66.4 days, while the length of the period between two calvings was 400.7 days in the U-group and 368.9 days in the K-group, which can be explained with the complications and by the duration of recovery from it.

 The pregnancy rate (96.3% in the U-group, 93.0% in the K-group) is outstanding compared to the results found in literature on groups treated with antibiotics (oxytetracycline - 77.7%, cephalosporin - 76%, penicillin G - 66.6%1). Based on all of this, it can be concluded that this herbal intra-uterine tablet shows encouraging results and can serve as an alternative option in light of the increasing antibiotic resistance. At the same time, in those farms where antibiotic-containing uterine tablets are still used to treat foetal membrane retention, it would be advisable to compare data with the data of animals treated with herb-based uterine tablets in order to make sure that one or the other treatment is more effective, if the results we received are not convincing enough.

Written by: József Kiss

Supervisor: Dr. Ottó Szenci

2022

1: Ekrami B, Ghasemzadeh S, Kordjazy H (2008) Comparison of the Effect of Single Intra-uterine Administration of Three Antibiotics for the Treatment of Endometritis on the Conception Rate of a Dairy Herd. In: Proceedings, The 15th Congress of FAVA-OIE Joint Symposium on Emerging Diseases