Planta Med 2021; 87(15): 1259
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1736814
Abstracts
8. Poster Contributions
8.2 Animal Healthcare and Veterinary Phytotherapy: Science and Practice

Efficacy of Norway spruce ointments and bacterial and fungal alterations in the treatment of castration wounds in piglets

Authors

  • Désirée Prokop

    1   Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria

  • Joachim Spergser

    2   Institute of Microbiology, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria

  • Werner Hagmüller

    3   Institute of Organic Farming and Farm Animal Biodiversity, HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Thalheim/Wels, Austria

  • Alexander Tichy

    4   Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Platform, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria

  • Karin Zitterl-Eglseer

    1   Institute of Animal Nutrition and Functional Plant Compounds, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria
Further Information
Also available at
 
 

    Our study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Norway spruce ointments on wound healing of castration wounds in piglets. We included 95 pigs and randomly divided them into five treatment groups: Norway spruce balm (Vulpuran), Norway spruce resin (Abilar), pork lard (ointment base of Vulpuran), no treatment (negative control) and antibiotic blue spray (Cyclo spray, positive control). Wound healing parameters (healing time, wound size, reddening of wound edges and surrounding, swelling, secretion and wound contamination), microbiological status and haptoglobin level were investigated. Some positive effects on wound healing parameters were found in the Norway spruce groups. Vulpuran treatment led to significantly lower wound secretion than the untreated control did (p=0.019). After the study, the highest rates of completely closed wounds were found in the Norway spruce groups (Abilar 44.8%, Vulpuran 34.2%) compared with the rates in the control (31.6%), blue spray (23.7%) and lard (15.8%) groups. Bacterial isolates at the family level belonged to Staphylococcaceae, Corynebacteriaceae, Enterobacteriaceae, Streptococcaceae, Aerococcaceae and Morganellaceae. More than half of the fungal colonies were classified into genus Candida (67%). A comparison of the five treatment groups on day 3 revealed that Norway spruce led to the lowest rate of wounds colonised with fungi (Vulpuran 70%, Abilar 77%) in comparison with blue spray (88.9%), lard (100%) and no treatment (100%). Fungi could only be detected in one of the 13 samples treated with Vulpuran on day 8, which nearly reached significance (p=0.055).


     

    Statement on behalf of all authors. This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

    Publication History

    Article published online:
    13 December 2021

    © 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved.

    Georg Thieme Verlag
    Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany