Medicinal plants – prophylactic and therapeutic options for gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases in calves and piglets? A systematic review

Ayrle, Hannah; Mevissen, Meike; Kaske, Martin; Nathues, Heiko; Gruetzner, Niels; Melzig, Matthias; Walkenhorst, Michael

Antibiotic therapy is often the first-line therapy of diseases of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract in calves and piglets. A previously published study showed that fattening calves receive antibiotics for 30 days on average. Moreover, calves are frequently treated with reserve antibiotics such as fluorchinolones and cephalosporines of the 3. and 4. generation [30] . In pig production, routine proand metaphylactic administration of antimicrobial agents is a widely-used practice in herds suffering from neonatal diarrhea, postweaning diarrhea or edema disease irrespective of increasing ineffectiveness in consequence of bacterial resistance [6] . More than 60 % of the antibiotics used in porcine husbandry are administered by oral group treatment [31] . Data on antimicrobial resistance monitoring indicated that 59 % of porcine Escherichia coli strains from fecal samples showed resistance to at least one antibiotic and 12 % to more than four of the antibiotics that were investigated [32] . With regard to increasing antimicrobial resistance worldwide, the prevailing issue of reducing antibiotics in food producing animals is seeking for novel options to prevent and cure most common and costly diseases. Improved biosecurity and housing conditions, new feeding regimes, vaccinations and the use of disease-resistant breeds are important provisions.