AVALIAÇÃO DE PROTOCOLOS UTILIZADOS NA CICATRIZAÇÃO UMBILICAL DE BEZERROS

Abstract

The navel represents the attachment of the mother to the fetus during pregnancy. In order to prevent omphalopathies calves immediately after birth should receive appropriate navel treatment, such as cure, associated with correct administration of colostrum. Knowing the importance of performing umbilical cure in preventing the occurrence of umbilical affections, and with the purpose of identifying procedures of navel cure more accepted among the producers, the objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of silver spray and the rapid immersion in iodine when compared to treatment already recommended in the literature. Twenty-three animals consisted of three experimental groups: G1 (iodine at 7% for 1 minute / 9 animals), G2 (7% iodine in rapid immersion / 7 animals) and G3 (silver spray / 7 animals). Treatments were performed twice daily for three days. The length of the umbilical stump, the daily appearance of the cord, the number of days from birth to umbilical stump fall, thickness of umbilical structures, and palpation sensitivity were considered for evaluating the efficacy of the protocols. In order to exclude passive immunity transfer failure as a factor associated with umbilical infection, colostrum quality was sampled, as well as total plasma protein dosage after 48 hours of calf life in the different groups. The animals tested (8/11) presented satisfactory passive immunity acquisition. The data obtained showed that all the protocols used in umbilical healing were satisfactory, because in the statistical analysis there was no significant difference between the treatments and no suggestive changes of inflammatory or infectious processes were observed in the stump and umbilical region. It is concluded that, provided the protocols are used as demonstrated in this study, silver and 7% iodine in rapid immersion can replace the use of iodine at 7% for one minute.