A blinded placebo-controlled multi-center on-farm trial was conducted in dairy cows with subclinical ketosis to investigate effects of a multicomponent herbal extract. Blood ketone levels were measured weekly in early lactating cows from 16 Swiss herds. Cows were subclassified based on their initial blood-β-hydroxybutyrate levels (≥ 1.0 [KET-low, 84 cows] and > 1.2 mmol/L [KET-high, 39 cows]) and randomly distributed to 3 groups treated orally with herbal extract containing Camellia sinensis, Cichcorium intybus, Gentiana lutea, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Taraxacum officinale, Trigonella foenum-graecum, and Zingiber officinale, sodium propionate, or placebo twice a day for 5 days. Milk yield, milk acetone, blood-β-hydroxybutyrate, glucose, nonesterified fatty acids, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and glutamate dehydrogenase were analyzed over 2 wk. Linear mixed effect models were used for data analysis. No effects were found for nonesterifed fatty acids, gamma-glutamyl transferase, and glucose. Significantly higher glutamate dehydrogenase (29.71 U/L) values were found in herbal extract-treated animals compared to sodium propionate on day 7 (22.33 U/L). By trend, higher blood-β-hydroxybutyrate levels (1.36 mmol/L) were found in the placebo group of KET-high-cows on day 14 compared to the sodium propionate group (0.91 mmol/L). Milk yields of all treatment groups increased. Milking time and treatment showed a significant interaction for milk acetone: sodium propionate led to an immediate decrease, whereas herbal extracts resulted in a milk acetone decrease from day 7 on, reaching significantly lower milk acetone on day 14 (3.17 mg/L) when compared to placebo (4.89 mg/L). In conclusion, herbal extracts and sodium propionate are both likely to improve subclinical ketosis in dairy cows, however, by different modes of action.

中文翻译：

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多组分草药提取物对奶牛亚临床酮症病程的影响——一项安慰剂对照的盲法实地研究

在患有亚临床酮症的奶牛中进行了一项盲法安慰剂对照的多中心农场试验，以研究多组分草药提取物的效果。每周对来自 16 个瑞士牛群的早期泌乳奶牛的血酮水平进行测量。根据奶牛的初始血液-β-羟基丁酸水平（≥ 1.0 [KET-低，84 头奶牛] 和 > 1.2 mmol/L [KET-高，39 头奶牛]）对奶牛进行细分，并随机分配到 3 组口服草药提取物含有山茶花、菊苣、黄龙胆、光果甘草、蒲公英、胡芦巴和生姜，丙酸钠或安慰剂，每天两次，持续 5 天。在 2 周内分析了产奶量、牛奶丙酮、血液-β-羟基丁酸、葡萄糖、非酯化脂肪酸、γ-谷氨酰转移酶和谷氨酸脱氢酶。线性混合效应模型用于数据分析。未发现对非酯化脂肪酸、γ-谷氨酰转移酶和葡萄糖有影响。与第 7 天的丙酸钠（22.33 U/L）相比，在草药提取物处理的动物中发现了显着更高的谷氨酸脱氢酶（29.71 U/L）值。从趋势上看，与丙酸钠组（0.91 mmol/L）相比，在第 14 天，在 KET 高奶牛的安慰剂组中发现更高的血液-β-羟基丁酸盐水平（1.36 mmol/L）。所有治疗组的产奶量都有所增加。挤奶时间和处理显示出牛奶丙酮的显着相互作用：丙酸钠导致立即减少，而草药提取物导致牛奶丙酮从第 7 天开始减少，在第 14 天达到显着降低的牛奶丙酮 (3.17 mg/L)安慰剂（4.89 毫克/升）。综上所述，