The present invention concerns a method of neutralizing stress sequelae and of reducing the incidence of scours in monogastric animals, poultry and ruminants. The invention further concerns a feed additive which is useful for this purpose and also has a growth-promoting effec .

The incidence of diarrhoea particularly in newborn and quite young domestic animals is a considerable problem with tremendous economic consequences for the farmer. Especially in the breeding of pigs is this a very- pronounced problem. Newborn pigs usually remain with the sow for some weeks and are then taken from the sow, placed in community pens and fed a dry feed. The weaning creates stress and often 50 percent of the pigs develops scours within 2-3 days after being taken from the sow. Of the pigs which develop scours, it is not unusual for one-fifth to die, while another three-fifths will lose a significant amount of weight through rapid dehydration. Only about 20 percent of the pigs with scours will recover without an appreciable loss of weight.

Also newborn calves suffer severely from diarrhoea, which is far and away the most important cause of death of newborn cattle in the dairy industry. The frequent incidence of scours in newborn calves is a source of considerable expenses and difficulties in the dairy industry, and thus a great need exists for finding new means and ways of preventing and curing scours in animals.

These incidences of scours can, as mentioned, be related to stress in animals. The animals can also be thrown into a state of stress during transport and immediately before slaughtering, which causes a considerable dehydration of the cells to the gastro-intestinal tract with a consequent loss both in live and slaughtered weight.

Crowding of many young animals per unit of area often causes the micro-flor to be activated, which forms a constant threat to the animals' health.

Diarrhoea is generally a manifestation of a more or less pathogenic micro-flora, and reactions from the intestinal canal in the form of diarrhoea is the result of water balance changes. Diarrhoea can have different causes, 'such as hormonal changes in the mother's milk or a high content of incorporated carbohydrates in the feed.

Stress can also develop, under the influence of heat and by shortage in the liquid supply.

It has now surprisingly been found that Plantago species in the form of seed husk, whole or ground seeds or extractions thereof, used as an additive to animal feeds, gives an extremely favourable result in preventing stress states of the above mentioned type, and/or in preventing or treating scours, and/or in obtaining a growth-promoting effect, especially in monogastric animals, such as pigs, horses, minks, dogs, cats and o.ther pets, as well as poultry, but also in ruminants, such as calves and sheep both at the stage when they only have one active stomach (e.g. calves and lambs) and when they are full-grown (e.g. cows and sheep) .

Plantago seeds are widely used as a human laxative in various dosage-forms and has for centuries been used as

a remedy against a large number of human diseases, such as inflammation of the eye, dry coughs, burns and certain gastric and intestinal disorders (see e.g. Martindale, The Extra Pharmacopoeia 2βth ed., p. 1084 and J.N. Be iller: Natural Gums, chapter XVI, p. 345-354) .

The effect of Plantago seeds is due to the content of gum, which- can be readily extracted with hot water. It is, however, not necessary to extract the gum since the seeds can in ground form be used directly because of their great mucilage- orming capacity.

To the best of the applicant's knowledge Plantago species have never been tried to control serious scours in animals, nor to neutralize stress states, but it has now been found that the use of Plantago in animals gives several significant benefits in that, respect.

A preferred Plantago product is Ispaghula (BPC) because this has the highest content of polysaccharide. Ispaghula consists of the dried, ripe seeds of Plantago ovata Forskal. In the USA the designation "Psyllium seeds" covers both Plantago ovata, P. indica and P. psyllium seeds. In Denmark the name "loppefrø" (fleaseeds) only covers P. psyllium and P. indica. The main constituents of Ispaghula are polysaccharides (about 30%) , composed of D-xylose, L-arabinose, L-rhamnose and D-galacturonic acid. Ispaghula Husk is the name of epidermis and collapsed adjacent layers removed from Ispaghula.

The polysaccharide content is higher than in Ispaghula. Therefore and because the outer seed embryo contains a pigment that causes a brown coloration of the kidneys, the use of Ispaghula Husk is preferred to the whole seeds.

Among the physical properties of Ispaghula Husk, the most

remarkable one is its ability to absorb water under formation of a highly viscous mucilage. A dispersion of 1 percent Ispaghula Husk in water gives a viscosity of 4000 cP. The dispersions are thixotropic. The. viscosity is only slightly affected by temperature variations between 20 and 50 C, pH variations between 2 and 10 and electrolyte solutions up to 0.2 (sodium and potassium chloride) .

Ispaghula Husk, when ingested by animals with the proper amount of water, swells and becomes an integral part of the fecal mass. Ingestion of 8 g of Ispaghula Husk is able to increase the fecal mass by more than 200 ml owing to the water bound.

Ispaghula Husk has no nutritional value and is not broken down during the passage through the intestinal tract of the animal. The substance binds toxines and allergens.

Ispaghula Husk has a plurality of advantages which make the substance useful for prevention and treatment of animal scours:

- it is a safe and harmless natural product which is widely used in humans,

it does not alter the normal bacterial flora, either in theintestines or in the excrements,

- it does not change iron and calcium resorption,

- it is heat resistant and is not broken down in boiling water, thus it can be easily formulated as pellets, in this context is acts as a binder and prevents dust formation,

its properties do not change by the addition of NaCl or KC1, even in the presence of citric acid (this is essential in the treatment of severe diarrhoea, where such treatment is given with potassium ions).,

- the treatment is simple and inexpensive and requires no veterinary assistance, and

because of its great waterbinding capacity, it exerts a hydrostatic effect on the water balance between the intestine and the surrounding cells, counteracting the liberation of water from the cells in consequence of stress.

The recommended dose is low: To prevent the sequelae of the water and salt loss caused by stress and diarrhoea the dose normally used is of the order 0.3 % mixed with the animal feed, independent of the species of animals treated, but also smaller additions, such as 0.2 % are efficacious. For curative treatment of the sequelae the dose normally used is of the order 0.5 g per kg of body weight. The dose is, however, not criticalj large doses are well tolerated. To prevent stress during transport and before slaughtering, doses corresponding to the curative treatment or larger can advantageously be administered about 24 hours ahead.

The pref rred product for the purpose of the invention has , as mentioned, its origin in the Plantago ovata species, but even products originating in other Plantago species, such as P. psyllium, P. indica, P. lanceolata and P. ma'jor, can be used with similarly good results.

The following examples illustrate more closely the effect obtained by using the preferred product, Ispaghula Husk.

Example 1

Tests performed with Ispaghula Husk mixed into feeds for piglets.

The effect of Ispaghula Husk on piglets suffering from cronic scouring and dehydration in the phase of weaning was tested in the following way:

16 piglets weighing from 15 to 20 kg, were separated in two groups according to weight and clinical symptoms. The two groups were placed in their respective pens.

8 piglets received 6-8 g of Ispaghula Husk daily for 14 days, the substance being mixed into the feed. The pigs ^* received no additional antibiotic treatment.

The incidence of scours decreased successively within 4-5 days, and the fecal consistency improved practically to normal. One of the piglets died 5 days after the treatment was commenced.

The 8 piglets in the control group received no treatment. Four of these piglets died during the test period from continued- scours and dehydration.

Test with 5-10 week old pigs showed that an admixture of 0.3 percent Ispaghula Husk in the feed, corresponding with 0.3 to 3 g a day per pig, had a stabilizing effect on the fecal consistency, reducing the incidence of scouring remarkably, especially in pigs which were weaned at the age of 8 weeks.

Example 2

A test with 20 day old weanlings was carried out. The

piglets were placed in steelpens and separated in two groups: Control (C) .and Test (T) with 40 piglets in each. The average weight in each group was five kg. Feed and water were available on a free choice basis.

The control group was given a standard feed for weanlings The test group was given Ispaghula Husk mixed with a standard feed for weanlings in the ratio of 3 kg Ispaghula Husk to 1000 kg standard feed.

The total incidence of scours was designated S. The watery scours were designated WS. The average feed con¬ sumption F and the average growth G for each group during the first three weeks and the following two weeks of the test period were recorded.

Test results

The incidence of scours (weekly average per 1000 animals) appears from table I.

Table I

Week T-S T- - S C-S C-WS

1 65 19 89 19

2 and 3 155 72 254 149

4 and 5 94 30 107 29

During the first week there were no significant* differences between the two groups , the incidence ¹ of scours being low everywhere .

During the second week S / WS increased rapidly in the C group to a maximum of 260 / 155.

During the third week the two groups remained at the same

level as in the previous week.

During the fourth week S/WS declined rapidly to 105/28 in the C group, whereas it took the T group two days more to arrive at 90/25.

The levels remained unchanged in the fifth week.

Table II

Average feed consumption and growth in the test period:

Week T-F T-G C-F C-G

0-3 7.27 5.75 7.14 5.53

4-5 ' ' 10.75 7.48 10.57 7.03

Table : II

Feed consumption to obtain a growth of 1 kg:

Week T C §

0-3 1.264 1.290

4-5 1.432 1.504

Table IV

Difference in the ^' feed consumption per 1 kg growth between the 2 groups:

Week ~

0-3 0.98

4-5 0.95

The effect of Ispaghula Husk admixture to the feed can - in cases where no drastic diarrhoea occurs - be measured

best from the amount of feed necessary to obtain a growth of 1 kg. As appears from the above figures, the test animals used 2 percent less feed during the first three weeks and 5 percent less feed during the weeks 4 and 5 than the control animals.