Prevention of scours in neonatal kids after oral administration of an organic acid solution or antibiotics

Abstract

The efficacy of an organic acid solution in the prevention of neonatal kid diarrhoea, was examined in this study and was compared with that of different antibiotics. In a goat farm, kids and their mothers were divided in 4 experimental groups. The kids of Group I were not given any treatment serving as negative controls. The kids of Group II were treated orally for 3 consecutive days with a solution of organic acids starting approximately 12 h after their birth. The kids of Groups III and IV were treated once orally with ampicillin and oxytetracycline respectively, approximately 12 h after birth. All groups were compared as regards the occurrence of diarrhoea, its duration, and the rate of mortality. The results have shown that the number of cases and the duration of diarrhoea were significantly reduced in all treated groups, when compared to the control group (p<0.05). However, no or little difference was noted with respect to morbidity, mortality and diarrhoea characteristics when treated groups were compared with each other (p>0.05). Samples of diarrhoeic faeces from kids in the control group resulted in the isolation of K88 and K99 strains of Escherichia coli. It was concluded that, early oral administration of organic acids can be effective in the prevention of scours in neonatal kids, possibly caused by enterotoxigenic E. coli strains, and to a degree of protection similar to that seen with the used antibiotic schemes.