Addition of a homeopathic, preventive product for mastitis in dairy cow feed: effects on etiologic agents, animal health, production, composition, and quality of milk
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v9i11.9607Keywords:
Immunity; Homeopathy; Somatic cell count; Total bacterial count.Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine whether the addition of a homeopathic product to dairy cow feed would improve health and production efficiency, as well as composition and quality of milk. The product tested here was produced to stimulate immunity and indirectly to prevent the colonization of the mammary gland by bacteria, thereby decreasing somatic cell counts and bacteria in cow’s milk. Fifty dairy cows were used, divided into two groups: Control (n = 25) and Treated (n = 25). For 90 consecutive days, 50 grams of homeopathic product (treated group) was added to the concentrate; 50 g of the product vehicle (limestone) was added to the concentrate of the control cows. We performed composition and quality analysis on the milk (days 1, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90) as well as blood collection to carry out hematological and metabolism analyses (days 1, 30, 60, and 90). We found that fat content in the milk cows consuming the homeopathic agent was greater than that of the control group. Because of this increased fat content, there was a tendency towards higher total solids content in treated cows. A treatment effect was found in terms of total bacterial count (TBC); that is, there were lower TBCs in milk of treated animals than in control animals. There was a trend of a treatment effect versus day for somatic cell count (SCC); that is, there were lower SCC in animals that consumed the homeopathic on days 15 and 30 of the experiment. There was no difference between groups in terms of milk production; however, there was a negative correlation between milk production and TBC or SCC in the milk of cows that consumed homeopathic product. Animals in the treated group had lower total leukocyte and lymphocyte counts than did the control group, as well as a tendency toward lower neutrophil counts in these animals. Several bacteria were isolated from the cows' milk during the experimental period, with no treatment effect. In particular, we isolated Corynebacterium spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus hyicus in greater numbers of cows compared to other etiologic agents. Based on these results, we conclude that consumption of the homeopathic product by dairy cows had positive effects on milk quality.
References
Abud A. P. R., et al. (2006). Activation of bone marrow cells treated with Canova in vitro. Cell Biology International, 30, 808-816.
Almeida, A. C., et al. (2005). Eficácia de tratamento homeopático no controle da mastite subclínica em bovinos. Veterinária Notícias, Uberlândia, 11 (2), 53-59.
Bonamin, L. V. (2019). Homeopathy and experimental infections: In vivo and in vitro experiments with bacteria, fungi and protozoan. La Revue d’Homéopathie, 629, 1-4.
Brasil. Instrução Normativa n. 76, de 26 de novembro de 2018. (2018). Estabelece o Regulamento para fixar a identidade e as características de qualidade que devem apresentar o leite cru refrigerado, o leite pasteurizado e o leite pasteurizado tipo A. Diário Oficial da República Federativa do Brasil, 1, 1-9.
Burbano, R. R., et al. (2009). Lymphocyte proliferation stimulated by activated human macrophages treated with Canova. Homeopathy, 98, 45-48.
Busanello, M., et al. (2017). Estimation of prevalence and incidence of subclinical mastitis in a large population of Brazilian dairy herds. Journal of Dairy Science, 100 (8), 6545–6553.
Cesar, B., et al. (2008). Activation of mononuclear bone marrow cells treated in vitro with a complex homeopathic medication. Micron, 39, 461-470.
Cohn, Z. A., Hirsch, J. G. (1960). The influence of phagocytosis on the intracellular distribution of granule-associated components of polymorphonuclear leucocytes. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 112, 1015- 1022.
Da Costa Filho, L. C. C., et al. (2014). Homeopatia aplicada à reprodução animal. Arquivos de Ciências Veterinárias e Zoologia da UNIPAR, 17, 63- 68.
Dahl, E. G., Tao, S., Laporta, J. (2020). Heat Stress Impacts Immune Status in Cows Across the Life Cycle. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 7 (116), 1-15.
Dale D. C., Boxer L. W. C. L. (2008). The phagocytes: neutrophils and monocytes. Blood, 112 (4), 935-45.
Doehring, C., Sundrum, A. (2016). Efficacy of homeopathy in livestock according to peer-reviewed publications from 1981 to 2014. Veterinary Record, 179, 1–13.
Duan, Y., et al. (2019). Leukocyte classification based on spatial and spectral features of microscopic hyperspectral images. Optics & Laser Technology, 112, 530-538.
FAO/WHO. (2015). Codex Alimentarius Commission. Maximum residue limits (MRLs) and risk management recommendations (RMRs) for residues of veterinary drugs in foods. Switzerland: CAC/MRL 2, 1- 41.
Fortuoso, B. F., et al.(2019). Reduction of stool bacterial counts and prevention of diarrhea using an oral homeopathic product in newborn lambs. Microbial Pathogenesis, 127, 347-351.
Fortuoso, B. F., et al. (2018). Homeopathic treatment as an alternative prophylactic to minimize bacterial infection and prevent neonatal diarrhea in calves. Microbial Pathogenesis, 114: 95-98.
Gonçalvez, J. L., et al. (2016). Effects of bovine subclinical mastitis caused by corynebacterium spp. on somatic cell count, milk yield and composition by comparing contralateral quarters. Veterinary Journal, 209, 87-92.
Halberstein, R. (2005). A Medicinal plants: historical and cross-cultural usage patterns. Annals of epidemiology, 15 (9), 686-699.
ISO 13366-2 / IDF 148-2: Milk – Enumeration of somatic cells – Part 2: Guidance on the operation of fluoro-optoelectronic counters. Brussels, Belgium, (2006) 1-15.
ISO 16297 / IDF 161: Milk – Bacterial Count – Protocol for the evaluation of alternative methods. Brussels, Belgium, (2013).
ISO 21187 / IDF 196: Milk – Quantitative determination of bacteriological quality – Guidance for establishing and verifying a conversion relationship between routine method results and anchor method results. Brussels, Belgium, (2004) 1-13.
ISO 9622 / IDF 141: Milk and liquid milk products - Guidelines for the application of mid-infrared spectrometry. Brussels, Belgium, (2013) 1-14.
Jaguezeski, A. M., et al. (2020) Daily consumption of a homeopathic product decreases intestinal damage and stool bacterial counts in mice challenged with escherichia coli. Microbial Pathogenesis, 147, 104269.
Kayne, S. (1992). Homoeopathic veterinary prescribing. British homoeopathic Journal, 81(1), 25-8.
Langoni, H., et al. (2011). Aspectos microbiológicos e de qualidade do leite bovino. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira, 31, 1059-1065.
Leal, M. F., et al. (2012). The protective effect of Canova Homeopathic medicine in cyclophosphamide-treated non-human primates. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 50, 4412-4420.
Lopes, A. C. (2006). Diagnóstico e tratamento. In: Introdução as práticas médicas heterodoxas. Flávio Dantas. Manole Ltda, 8, 411- 421.
Mangiéri J. R., Souto, L. I. M., Melville, P. A., Benites, N. R. (2007). Avaliação de tratamento homeopático na mastite bovina subclínica. Veterinária e Zootecnia, 14, 91-99.
Marchiori, M. S., et al. (2019). Homeopathic product in dog diets modulate blood cell responses. Archives of Veterinary Science, 24, 92-101.
Markey, B., et al. (2013). Clinical Veterinary Microbiology. (2nd ed.), Mosby Elsevier, London.
Mathie, R. T., Clausen, J. Veterinary homeopathy: meta-analysis of randomised placebo-controlled trials. Homeopathy. 104(2015), 3–8.
Mazón-Suástegui J. M., et al. (2017). Homeopathy outperforms antibiotics treatment in juvenile scallop Argopecten ventricosus: effects on growth, survival, and immune response. Homeopathy, 106, 18-26.
NMC- National Mastitis Council. (2004). Microbiological procedures for the diagnosis of bovine udder infection and determination of milk quality. NMC, Verona, (4th ed.).
Neto, F. P.. Zappa, V. (2011). Mastite Em Vacas Leiteiras- Revisão De Literatura. Revista Científica Eletrônica de Medicina Veterinária, 16, 1679–7353.
Ribeiro Filho A. (2017). Repertório De Sintomas Clínicos Em Homeopatia. São Paulo: Organon, 1, 1-286.
Salami F., Tavassoli A., Mehrzad J., Parham A. (2018). Immunomodulatory effects of mesenchymal stem cells on leukocytes with emphasis on neutrophils. Immunobiology, 223, 786-791.
Santos, M. V., Fonseca, L. F. L. (2007). Estratégias para controle de mastite e melhoria da qualidade do leite. Pirassununga, SP.
Silva, J. R., et al. (2011). Suplementação de vacas leiteiras com homeopatia: células somáticas do leite, cortisol e imunidade. Arquivo Brasileiro de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, 63, 805-813.
Simões, T. V. M. D., Oliveira, A. A. (2012). Mastite Bovina, Considerações e impactos econômicos. 1, 1- 27.
Tomazi, T., et al. (2014). Identification of Coagulase-Negative Staphylococci from Bovine Intramammary Infection by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization–Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 52, 1658 –1663.
Vragovíc, N., et al. (2011). Risk assessment of streptomycin and tetracycline residues in meat and milk on Croatian market. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 49, 352-355.
Weiermayer, P. (2018). Wound Healing Disorder in a Horse, Associated With Antimicrobial-Resistant Bacteria, Resolved With a Homeopathic Medicine-A Case Report. Journal of Equine Veterinary Science, 67, 37-43.
Werner, C., Sundrum, A. (2006). Comparison of homeopathic and chemotherapeutic treatment strategies in the case of bovine clinical mastitis. In: Joint Organic Congress, 8 Odense, Denmark.
Zecconi, A., Hahn, G. (2000). Staphylococcus aureus in raw milk and human health risk. Bulletin of IDF, 345, 15-18.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Renata Cristina Defiltro; Patricia Glombowsky; Lilian Kolling Girardini; Julcimar Machado Maciel; Marcelo Vedovatto; Aleksandro Schafer Da Silva; Aline Zampar
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
