Comparison of Probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus and Oxytetracycline for the Treatment of Early Stage Interdigital Necrobacillosis in Dairy Cows

The objective of this multilocation field trial was to compare the effectiveness of the topical application of a powdered probiotic strain and intramuscular injection of oxytetracycline for the treatment of interdigital necrobacillosis in dairy cows. The current study was conducted from April 2018 to May 2020 on 230 dairy cows with early-stage interdigital necrobacillosis diagnosed by the research veterinarians on 6 farms situated in the Almaty region of Kazakhstan. The animals were recruited randomly to one of the following groups. A trial group in which the affected hoof of a cow was cleaned, coated with powder containing 106 colony-forming units of Lactobacillus acidophilus per gram, and then bandaged. Cows in the positive control group were subjected to a single intramuscular injection of oxytetracycline at the dosage of 1.0 milligram per kilogram of bodyweight which is considered the routine treatment for interdigital necrobacillosis in the feedlots. Both procedures were executed every 72 hours during a period of two weeks with the subsequent two-week follow-up period. The treatment was discontinued when a cow was assessed as cured. Both groups were monitored daily for their limb condition and the degree of lameness during 28 days. Those cows having no evidence of lameness and lesions attributed to interdigital necrobacillosis with no disease recurrence recorded within the observation period, were considered cured. On day 15, the overall cure rates for Lactobacillus acidophilus 015k-1 strain and oxytetracycline were 80.87% and 83.48%, respectively. The overall odds ratio for the cure rate in the probiotic group versus oxytetracycline was 0.837. However, on day 28, all cows in both groups were found to be clinically free from the disease, and cure rates were 100%. No recurrence was recorded in any of the cases. It was concluded that the topical administration of the probiotic powder to dairy cows with early-stage interdigital necrobacillosis can result in cure rates nearly as high as those for intramuscular Oxytetracycline within a period of 28 days. This is the first report on the treatment effect of Lactobacillus acidophilus locally applied to cattle with early-stage interdigital necrobacillosis.