Sodium chlorate reduces the presence of Escherichia coli in feces of lambs and ewes managed in shed-lambing systems.

Our objective was to establish doses of orally administered NaClO(3) that reduced the presence of generic Escherichia coli in intestines of ewes and neonatal lambs managed in a shed-lambing system. Neonatal lambs (n = 32; age = 7.1 ± 1.2 d; BW = 6.8 ± 1.0 kg) and yearling ewes (n = 44; BW = 74.8 ± 5.6 kg) were used in 2 experiments. In both experiments, lambs and ewes were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups, and groups were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 treatments. In Exp. 1, neonatal lambs were given single, aqueous, oral doses of saline (control; NaCl, 30 mg·kg of BW(-1)) or 30, 60, or 90 mg of NaClO(3)·kg(-1) of BW. At 25.9 ± 1.3 h after treatment, lambs were euthanized, and intestinal contents were collected aseptically. In Exp. 2, ewes were given single, aqueous, oral doses of saline (NaCl, 150 mg·kg of BW(-1)) or 150, 300, or 450 mg of NaClO(3)·kg(-1) of BW. At 24.0 ± 0.8 h after treatment, fecal samples were collected aseptically from the rectum of each ewe. For both experiments, generic E. coli were enumerated from intestinal contents and feces within 4 to 12 h after collection. In Exp. 1, the effect (P = 0.08) of NaClO(3) on the presence of generic E. coli in colon contents was dose-dependent. This effect was linear (P < 0.01) and negative, which indicated that as NaClO(3) dose increased, generic E. coli that could be isolated from colon contents decreased. Specifically, lambs dosed with 60 and 90 mg of NaClO(3)·kg(-1) of BW had fewer E. coli cfu·g(-1) of content than control lambs (P < 0.06). Lambs dosed with 90 mg of NaClO(3)·kg(-1) of BW had fewer E. coli cfu·g(-1) of content than lambs dosed with 30 mg of NaClO(3)·kg(-1) of BW (P = 0.09). Sodium chlorate dose did not influence (P = 0.58) the presence of generic E. coli in contents collected from the cecum. In Exp. 2, the effect (P < 0.0001) of NaClO(3) on the presence of E. coli in fecal contents from ewes was dose-dependent. This effect was quadratic (P < 0.0001) and negative; ewes dosed with 150, 300, and 450 mg of NaClO(3)·kg(-1) of BW had fewer E. coli cfu·g(-1) of feces than control ewes. No differences in E. coli cfu·g(-1) of feces were detected between NaClO(3) treatments (P = 0.88 to 0.97). Based on these results, a single oral dose of at least 60 and 150 mg of NaClO(3)·kg(-1) of BW in neonatal lambs and yearling ewes, respectively, significantly decreased the presence of generic E. coli in contents from the lower intestine.