Effects of Chitosan-oligosaccharide on diarrhoea in Hanwoo calves

The therapeutic effect of Chitosan-oligosaccharide (COS) on calf diarrhoea was investigated in Korean native (Hanwoo) calves (n = 86). The calves were divided into two groups; the untreated/control (n = 40) having routine diet only and the treated group (n = 46) receiving COS (50 ml/day) in addition to the routine diet for five days. Blood samples from each animal were collected before and after five days treatment and were subjected to complete blood count (CBC), chemistry screening (CS) and plasma protein assay (PPA). The in vitro efficacy of COS against the most common causal agents of calf diarrhoea (Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium) was evaluated. Among the CBC parameters a significantly higher total red blood cell count (tRBC), haemoglobin (Hb) and packed cell volume (PCV) were noticed in the untreated group. In the CS parameters higher levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine and total bilirubin (TBL), and lower glucose were found in the untreated group. Significantly higher levels of albumin and a-globulin along with lower γ-globulin were noted in the untreated group. Among the treated group 41 (out of 46) calves recovered completely from diarrhoea and in the untreated group five calves (out of 40) spontaneously recovered after five days, revealing that the COS has a good therapeutic effect on diarrhoea in calves. The COS was found to effectively inhibit bacterial growth and pathogenicity up to 1:64 and 1:256 dilutions in the case of S. typhimurium and E. coli respectively. The results of this study revealed that the levels of different parameters of CBC (tRBC, Hb, PCV), CS (BUN, creatinine, TBL) and PPA (albumin, a-globulin, γ-globulin) profiles can reflect the severity of diarrhoea and dehydration and that COS can be successfully used for the clinical management of diarrhoea in Hanwoo calves.