Afecções podais em bovinos: diagnóstico, profilaxia e patogenia

Abstract

Claudication is a recurrent problem and causes great losses in livestock. Currently, the knowledge about mechanisms that can elucidate foot diseases as well as efficient forms of control and prophylaxis are scarce. Thus, the aim of this document was to deepen the knowledge under some forms of claudication control, to make the main prophylactic method more sustainable and economical, even as to better understand the metabolic mechanisms that lead to the laminitis, for that 5 in vivo experiments were carried out, approved by the Animal Experimentation Ethics Committee of the Federal University of Pelotas. The first was a patent where it was possible to reuse the foot care solutions in a sustainable and economical way, thus enabling a way to increase the profitability of livestock systems and decrease the chances of environmental contamination through the residues of these managements. The second study found that there is a negative correlation between the body condition score (BCS) and the locomotion score (LS) in Holstein cows submitted to a semi-extensive breeding regime, making these methods an effective way to control claudication during every lactation period. The third study was an investigation of the impacts of LS on dairy cows, and demonstrated that LS in prepartum was fundamental to the population diagnosis of the problem and presented as an important tool for the measurement of possible losses in subsequent lactation, both in the field metabolic and productive. The fourth work illustrated important results regarding ruminal pH and hemogasometric parameters of claudicating Holstein cows. Finally, the last paper sought to better understand the relation of ruminal acidosis and laminitis through challenge with exogenous LPS, concluding that these challenge was not able to generate alterations in the level of laminar tissue compatible with laminitis.