Evaluation of oral administration of chestnut tannins in preventing calf diarrhoea

Abstract

We evaluated the preventive effects of the oral administration of chestnut tannins (Castanea sativa) together with its potential metabolic effect on calf diarrhoea. Forty Italian Friesian female calves were included and divided into Group C (control group) and Group T (tannin-treated group). From the third day of life (T0) for the following 56 days (T56), calves from Group C received 2 L of warm water, while 10 g of chestnut tannin powder extract were added to Group T. Calves were weighed at birth and at T56. Daily faecal score evaluation was performed according to the literature. The age at diarrhoea onset (TDE) and the duration of the diarrhoeic episode were recorded. Blood methaemoglobin and liver enzymes were evaluated weekly starting from T0 to T56 by spectrophotometer and clinical chemistry analysis, respectively. The t-Student and chi-square tests were performed. The TDE was higher (p ¼ .04) in Group T than in Group C (12.0 ± 8.2 and 7.7 ± 3.8 days, respectively). There were no differences for ADG between the groups. Group C spent 24.4% of the whole period with diarrhoea, whereas Group T experienced diarrhoea for 18.9% of the period (p ¼ .001). All the blood and serum analytes were within physiological values. The administration of tannins in calves from the third day of life seemed to delay the onset of diarrhoea by almost four days, suggesting effective preventive action of chestnut tannins. HIGHLIGHTSThe oral administration of chestnut tannins in calves seemed to delay the onset of diarrhoea by almost four days, thus showing a preventive effect. The oral administration of chestnut tannins may lead to a better and shorter recovery of the calf, thus decreasing the use of antibiotics.

Effect of a Phytogenic Feed Additive in Preventing Calves' Diarrhea

“…The feed additive appeared to be pleasant for all the calves enrolled in the study and was easy to administer for the operators. This represents an interesting result, consistent with previous papers about calves and pure tannins administration ( 8 , 10 ), because one of the most important characteristics for an oral solution is the palatability and the ease in feeding it to livestock.…”

“…The lack of significant differences in ADG between the two groups suggested that the polyphenols powder does not affect the animals' growth and was in line with a study based on similar amounts of pomegranate tannins administration to calves ( 9 ). However, other studies supplementing calves with higher amounts of polyphenols did not report significant effects on ADG in the first 60 days of life in calves ( 8 , 10 ).…”

“…On the basis of the total phenol concentration found in the feed additive (nearly 58 mg/g of dry weight), the amount of total phenols daily administered to the calves was nearly 1.7 g of tannic acid equivalent. In literature, the daily dose of polyphenols administered to calves varied from 1.7 g/d to 7.5 g/d ( 9 , 10 ), depending to the nature of polyphenol and the purity of the plant extract adopted. Since the mixture adopted in the present study was not previously tested on calves, we assumed as safe the lower level reported in the literature.…”

“…Blood sample for CBC was analyzed by a cell counter (ProCyte Dx, IDEXX) within 5 min of collection. Serum ALB, GGT and AST were evaluated within 3 hours after collection using the clinical chemistry and immunoturbidimetric analyzer Liasys© (AMS, Alliance, Italy), while methemoglobin was evaluated according to Bonelli et al ( 10 ).…”

“…In neonatal calves infected with Cryptosporidium parvum , Oliveira et al ( 9 ) used pomegranate-residue supplements to examine a reduction in the fecal oocyst count, as well as the intensity and duration of diarrhea. More recent studies evaluated the reduction of the diarrheic episode following the therapeutic ( 8 ) and the preventive ( 10 ) administration of chestnut tannins in a population of sick calves. Stodi ® (Garzanti Specialties, Milano, Italy) is a blend of several Indian medicinal plants, rich in phenolic substances, traditionally known and being used for gut health and contains fruit rinds of Punica granatum, aerial part of Andrographis paniculate, bark of Acacia Nilotic, fruits of Terminalia bellirica, and bark of Holarrhena antidysentery.…”