Bovines Mastitis: Application of Herbal Therapy
Dr. Shivangi Udainiya
Teaching Associate
Veterinary Polytechnic College, Bhopal
EMAIL ID: shivangiud15@gmail.com
Abstract
Herbal therapy is a promising area in treatment of mastitis as no adverse effect is associated with it. Now days, use of herbal preparations are commonly used for the therapeutic purposes of various diseases and among so many diseases mastitis is one of them where these herbal drugs are used. Mastitis is the inflammation of the parenchyma of the mammary gland regardless of the cause. It is therefore characterized by a range of physical and chemical changes in the milk and pathologic changes in the glandular tissue. When cost factor was also taken into consideration, the herbal therapy was found to be the cheapest. Hence, it can be effectively used as an adjunct to antibiotics in the treatment of clinical mastitis without causing much alteration in the cost factor.
Key words: Bovine, Herbal Therapy, Mastitis,, Treatment
Introduction
Ethno-veterinary medicine is a branch of veterinary medicine that deals with the treatment of diseases with herbal preparations (Tiwari et al. 2018). Herbal therapy is a promising area in treatment of mastitis as no adverse effect is associated with it. Now days, use of herbal preparations are commonly used for the therapeutic purposes of various diseases and among so many diseases mastitis is one of them where these herbal drugs are used. Mastitis is the inflammation of the parenchyma of the mammary gland regardless of the cause. It is therefore characterized by a range of physical and chemical changes in the milk and pathologic changes in the glandular tissue. The most important changes in the milk include discoloration, the presence of clots, and the presence of large numbers of leukocytes. There is swelling, heat, pain, and edema in the mammary gland in many clinical cases (Constable et al. 2017). In dairy cattle, mastitis is a highly prevalent infectious disease, causing considerable economic loss worldwide. It adversely affects the lucratively benefits of animal producers/farmers and leads to a large production loss in the dairy sector worldwide (Das et al. 2018). Cows with mastitis cannot be milked regularly after the mammary gland cells are damaged. Mastitis affects the quality and quantity of milk. It can even cause an increase in the cost of rearing as far as the production of milk is concerned. Moreover, it has also a negative effect on the composition of the milk as well as its value (Kalinska et al. 2017). Despite various advanced management practices in cattle and buffalo rearing in the dairy sector, mastitis is still a daunting disease and among the major economic issues of farmers and dairy owners. When cost factor was also taken into consideration, the herbal therapy was found to be the cheapest (Younus et al. 2018). Hence, it can be effectively used as an adjunct to antibiotics in the treatment of clinical mastitis without causing much alteration in the cost factor. During the last century, significant advances to control mastitis have been made; but due to the changing population dynamics, herd structure and more rigorous processor standards that make mastitis a complicated disease and remains a foremost problem of the dairy industry. Thus, further extensive research in the area is demanded (Ruegg, 2017).
Types of mastitis and their etiological agents
Depending on their primary reservoir and mode of transmission, mastitis may be classified as ‘contagious’ or ‘environmental’ (Bogni et al. 2011). The primary mastitis-causing pathogens include contagious microorganisms that survive and proliferate on the skin and teat wounds, e.g., Streptococcus agalactiae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Strep. dysgalactiae, as well as environmental microorganisms that are not retained on the teat, e.g., Strep. uberis, Escherichia coli, and other coliforms(Bhosale et al. 2014). These bacteria enter mammary glands of cows through their teat canal, where they colonize, proliferate, and release toxins, damaging the mammary gland cells (Quirk et al. 2012).
Risk factors involved with Mastitis
- Animal risk factors: Prevalence of infection increases with age. Most new infections occur in the dry period and in early lactation. Highest rate of clinical disease occurs in herds with low somatic cell counts (SCCs). Morphology and physical condition of the teat are risk factors. Selenium and vitamin E status influence incidence of clinical mastitis. High-producing cows are more susceptible.
- Environmental risk factors: Poor quality management of housing and bedding increases infection rate and incidence of clinical mastitis caused by environmental pathogens.
- Pathogen risk factors: Ability to survive in the environment, virulence factors (colonizing ability and toxin production), susceptibility to antimicrobial agents
- Economics: Subclinical mastitis is a major cause of economic loss caused by loss of milk production, costs of treatment, and early culling (Constable et al. 2017).
Pathogenesis
Pathogenesis of mastitis is mainly occurs in three stages: invasion, infection, and inflammation. Invasion is the stage at which pathogens move from the teat end to the milk inside the teat canal. Infection is the stage in which the pathogens multiply rapidly and invade the mammary tissue. After invasion the pathogen population may be established in the teat canal and, with this as a base, a series of multiplications and extensions into mammary tissue may occur, with infection of mammary tissue occurring frequently or occasionally depending on its susceptibility. Multiplication of certain organisms may result in the release of endotoxins, as in coliform mastitis, which causes profound systemic effects with minimal inflammatory effects. Inflammation follows infection and represents the stage at which clinical mastitis occurs with varying degrees of clinical abnormalities of the udder and variable systemic effects from mild to peracute; gross and subclinical abnormalities of the milk appear. The severity and duration of mastitis are critically related to the promptness of the neutrophil migratory response and their bactericidal activity at the site of infection (Constable et al. 2017).
Diagnosis of Mastitis
Diagnosis of mastitis is the major requirement of the dairy industry for clean milk production, not only for economical reasons and public health concerns, but also regarding animal welfare. It needs to be early, rapid and accurate for prevention of mastitis or early detection of mastitis for management or therapeutic purposes. It is generally based on indicators of the inflammation, such as somatic cell count (SCC), inflammatory cytokine, enzyme activity (e.g., LDH or NAGase), and the electrical conductivity. However, California Mastitis Test (CMT) is widely used for preliminary detection of bovine mastitis, which is a cost effective, rapid, user friendly method used to measure the SCC in milk samples (Viguier et al. 2009).
Use of Herbal drugs for treatment of Mastitis
Medicinal plants can be used as an alternative therapeutic option or as an adjunct agent in managing bovine mastitis. They can be used as an anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory agent for the treatment of mastitis (Mushtaq et al. 2018).
In a comparative study conducted to evaluate the efficacy of homeopathic complex therapy, herbal therapy (Neem seed extract) and antibiotic therapy for the treatment of subclinical mastitis in dairy buffaloes, it was found that treatment with antibiotics were having superior efficacy over the herbal (Neem seed extract) and homeopathic complex therapy groups.
The methanolic extracts of herbal preparation containing Diploclisia glaucescens leaf and rhizomes of Curcuma longa in equal proportions produced analgesic activity along with anti-inflammatory activity reported by Ranjith et al. (2018).
Moringa extract has been shown to ameliorate inflammatory mediators and increase antioxidant systems in bovine udder epithelial cells (Cheng et al. 2019).
Oxytropis glabra is a Fabaceae species that is widely used as a Chinese herbal formulation in Western China. The in vitro studies conducted to evaluate the effect of O. glabra decoction on the S. epidermidis biofilm formation identified potential inhibiting mechanism that can be further explored in developing newer drugs against biofilm-associated infections (Ren et al. 2020).
Plant species like Achillea millefolium, Allium sativum, Alternanthera brasiliana, Baccharis trimera, Chenopodium ambrosioides, Cuphea carthagenensis, Foeniculum vulgare, Phytolacca dioica, Sambucus nigra, Sida rhombifolia, Solanum mauritianum, Atractylodis macrocephalae Koidz and Solidago chilensis, were used orally, among which Alternanthera brasiliana, Baccharis trimera and Sambucus nigra were also used as topical agents. Ocimum basilicum and Parapiptadenia rigida were the two plant species that were used by intramammary route in bovine mastitis (Avancini et al. 2008).
In a recent study conducted to evaluate the in vitro anti-bacterial activity of ethyl acetate extract of the plant Terminalia chebula against the molecularly identified isolates of S. aureus, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Bacillus megaterium; it was found that 500 mg/mL concentration of the extract had the same antibacterial efficacy as that of standard amoxicillin (Kher et al. 2019).
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