Effects of a Multicomponent Herbal Extract on the Course of Subclinical Ketosis in Dairy Cows - a Blinded Placebo-controlled Field-study.

Manuela Durrer, Meike Mevissen, Mirjam Holinger, Matthias Hamburger, Sandra Graf-Schiller, Philipp Mayer, Olivier Potterat, Rupert Bruckmaier, Michael Walkenhorst

Planta medica 2020 Dec

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A blinded placebo-controlled multi-center on-farm trial was conducted in dairy cows with subclinical ketosis to investigate effects of a multicomponent herbal extract. Blood ketone levels were measured weekly in early lactating cows from 16 Swiss herds. Cows were subclassified based on their initial blood-β-hydroxybutyrate levels (≥ 1.0 [KET-low, 84 cows] and > 1.2 mmol/L [KET-high, 39 cows]) and randomly distributed to 3 groups treated orally with herbal extract containing Camellia sinensis, Cichcorium intybus, Gentiana lutea, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Taraxacum officinale, Trigonella foenum-graecum, and Zingiber officinale, sodium propionate, or placebo twice a day for 5 days. Milk yield, milk acetone, blood-β-hydroxybutyrate, glucose, nonesterified fatty acids, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and glutamate dehydrogenase were analyzed over 2 wk. Linear mixed effect models were used for data analysis. No effects were found for nonesterifed fatty acids, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and glucose. Significantly higher glutamate dehydrogenase (29.71 U/L) values were found in herbal extract-treated animals compared to sodium propionate on day 7 (22.33 U/L). By trend, higher blood-β-hydroxybutyrate levels (1.36 mmol/L) were found in the placebo group of KET-high-cows on day 14 compared to the sodium propionate group (0.91 mmol/L). Milk yields of all treatment groups increased. Milking time and treatment showed a significant interaction for milk acetone: sodium propionate led to an immediate decrease, whereas herbal extracts resulted in a milk acetone decrease from day 7 on, reaching significantly lower milk acetone on day 14 (3.17 mg/L) when compared to placebo (4.89 mg/L). In conclusion, herbal extracts and sodium propionate are both likely to improve subclinical ketosis in dairy cows, however, by different modes of action. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Citation

Manuela Durrer, Meike Mevissen, Mirjam Holinger, Matthias Hamburger, Sandra Graf-Schiller, Philipp Mayer, Olivier Potterat, Rupert Bruckmaier, Michael Walkenhorst. Effects of a Multicomponent Herbal Extract on the Course of Subclinical Ketosis in Dairy Cows - a Blinded Placebo-controlled Field-study. Planta medica. 2020 Dec;86(18):1375-1388