Cefacetrile and Rifaximin association might improve first service conception rate and reduce the number of services per conception in cows with clinical endometritis

Abstract

Clinical endometritis (CE) is a serious disease leading to poor reproductive performances in lactating dairy cows, thus diminishing farm profitability. To preserve optimum reproductive efficiency, various strategies and therapeutic approaches have been proposed to manage cows with CE, often with contradictory results. Thus, investigating new paths to CE treatment is economically important. The aim of the present study was to test the efficacy of three therapeutic protocols on the clinical cure rate of CE, and improvement of reproductive performance. Cows with CE (n=42), 21–38 days in milk (DIM), were assigned to three treatment groups: PGF: cows (n=19) were treated systemically with two doses of d-cloprostenol, a PGF2α analogue, at 14-days intervals; CEFAX: cows (n=10) received an intrauterine infusion of the combined antibiotics Cefacetrile and Rifaximin; and NAX: cows (n=13) received systemic treatment with Ceftiofur crystalline free acid (CCFA). A control group included cows (n=36) free from CE (healthy group: HE). All cows were clinically re-examined after the end of the treatment protocol. The clinical cure rate was 73.7%, 80% and 69.2% in PGF, CEFAX, and NAX groups, respectively (P>0.05). The HE group had a significantly shorter calving to first service interval compared to CEFAX and PGF groups (P<0.05), however the difference was not significant with NAX group. The mean calving to fertilizing service interval (CFI) was slightly higher in all three treatment groups compared to the HE group, however the difference was not significant (P>0.05). CEFAX protocol resulted in shorter but not statistically significant CFI, compared to the PGF and NAX protocols. Services per conception rate were slightly lower (1.7) in the CEFAX group compared to HE (1.75), PGF (1.84) and NAX (2.23) groups, however these differences were not significant. First service conception rate and conception rate at 105 DIM did not differ statistically between the treatment groups. While the difference was not significant, CEFAX protocol had slightly better cure rate for CE, reducing the number of services per conception and boosting the resumption of ovarian activity after calving. Validating these finding on a larger herd size will improve the accuracy of these findings.

In Vivo Efficacy of Echinops spinosus Decoction as a Therapeutic for Cows at Risk of Clinical Endometritis

“…Females that had an eutocia (normal delivery, no RFM or clinical signs of metritis or endometritis) at 30 ± 2 DPP were deemed a control group for reproductive performances. To evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment protocol at 30 ± 2 DPP, all treated cows were examined by transrectal palpation and vaginoscopy, as previously described [ 31 , 32 ]. The clinical response of cows was assessed by the absence of abnormal discharges in the vagina, subjective evaluation of uterine involution and resumption of ovarian activity at 30 ± 2 DPP.…”

Harnessing Vaginal Probiotics for Enhanced Management of Uterine Disease and Reproductive Performance in Dairy Cows: A Conceptual Review

“…Currently, antibiotics are commonly used to treat sick animals. However, these pose challenges such as antimicrobial resistance and residues [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Therefore, probiotics could be a viable alternative therapy for mitigating uterine inflammations [21][22][23][24][25][26].…”