The effects of buscopan compositum on calf nutritional diarrhoea

Nutritional diarrhoea was induced in male Friesian calves by the addition of sucrose to their milk replacer diet in two experiments. In each study the calves were paired on the basis of the severity of the diarrhoea and each of a pair of calves was assigned at random to receive a course of six intramuscular injections (5 ml/50 kg body weight) of either a placebo or Buscopan compositum (morning and evening) over a period of 3 days. In an initial study, which involved 10 pairs of calves, daily faecal and urine output were collected separately for each calf on the day prior to the start of treatment and on each day of the 3 treatment days. The daily output of fresh faeces were reduced as a result of treatment with Buscopan compositum and the overall reduction for the complete 3 day period was 18.7%. This was also reflected in a reduced output of faecal water (18.4%) during the same period. The digestibility of the dry matter component of the diet was significantly increased by 5.8%. In a second experiment, which involved 24 pairs of calves, faecal samples were collected daily, commencing before initiation of treatment, for determination of faecal dry matter content. The pattern of change in the faecal dry matter content during the course of the study differed clearly for the two treatments. Faecal dry matter increased from its lowest level (11.7%), immediately prior to first treatment, to its maximum (21.8%) on the second day of treatment in the Buscopan compositum-treated calves.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)