Name: British elecampane – British Oman (veterinary practice)
British elecampane – inula britanica l.
Popular names: scrofula, forest jaundice, goldenrod, garkusha, hogweed.
Botanical characteristic. Compositae family. Perennial herbaceous plant up to 65 cm high. The stem is straight, pubescent with soft hairs. The leaves are alternately oblong, lanceolate, soft, pubescent, upper with a heart-shaped base, stalked. Flowers -golden-yellow baskets, not numerous, in a small corymb. The fruit is a fluffy achene.
Spreading. It grows along the banks of rivers, islands, in wet flood meadows, along the edges of the forest, not often in mountainous places and along roads. It is found everywhere in the European part of the USSR, in Altai, the Urals, the Far East, Siberia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
Medicinal raw materials. The above-ground part of plants (grass) is collected during the flowering period. Dry in the open air, in ventilated areas without access to direct sunlight.
Chemical composition. Essential and olanthus oil, inulin, flavone substances, etc. were found in the plant.
pharmacological properties. Experimental studies conducted at the Department of Pharmacology of the Troitsk Veterinary Institute (Shagiakhmetov) on fistulous dogs and calves showed that a single oral administration of a 1:10 infusion of the plant at a dose of 10 ml/kg caused a decrease in the amount of separated intestinal juice and an increase in its enzymatic activity. Thus, the activity of alkaline phosphatase increased in dogs by 30.5-70.6%, in calves by 43.46%, the amount of peptidosis – in dogs by 8-9%, in calves by 4.08-8.9%. The activity of intestinal juice lipase in calves increased by 191.3%. The pH of the medium changed little. An increase in gamma globulin was observed in the protein fractions of blood serum.
In calves, an increase in the bioelectrical activity of the heart was noted, which was characterized by an increase in the intervals R-R, T-R, a decrease in the systolic index, in dogs – an increase in the P wave.
Application. An infusion of the plant (1:10) at a dose of 10 ml/kg is prescribed for gastrointestinal diseases of calves (diarrhea). Animals were given a starvation diet: they skipped 2-3 colostrum drinks and replaced it with plant infusion in the amount of 300-500 ml (depending on weight) per calf 3 times every day for 4-6 days. In the following days, the infusion was given 30-40 minutes before drinking colostrum.
The measures taken made it possible to reduce the mortality of calves by 2%.
More tangible results were obtained when prescribing an infusion of the plant at the same dose according to the same scheme in combination with a titrated antibiotic (tetracycline hydrochloride at a dose of 10,000 units/kg) and following a diet. The duration of treatment was approximately 2.5 – 3.5 days.
Oral doses: calves in the form of an infusion (1:10) 10 ml/kg.