Translational Value
- In certain species of pigs (e.g., ‘ballicos’ in rural Spain), they are often put down because the costs of breeding and fattening them are relatively high.
- Based on the experience of the author with good results in homeopathy in broiler chickens and pigs with normal growth, the study was designed to test the homeopathic medicines in pigs with retarded growth.
- A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted on 42 five-week-old Large White-Landrace cross pigs, each at least 25% under the weight of litter-mates, over 110 days.
- The pigs were divided into three groups of 14: placebo, Calcarea carbonica + Calcarea phosphorica LM II (combination), and Baryta carbonica LM II (3 ml orally about every 21 days).
- Feed was standard and available ad libitum; weight and group feed consumption were recorded at each check and analysed with Student’s t-test.
The study reported that
- The Baryta carb group gained more weight than the other groups throughout the trial, significantly so against placebo at four of five checks.
- Average weight at the final check was 88.43 kg with Baryta carb vs 77.28 kg with placebo and 73.38 kg with the combination (p < 0.001)
- The final market weight was practically equal to that of normal pigs.
It was concluded that Baryta carb LM II can be of great use for the recovery of pigs with retarded growth through better feed conversion.
Update available in
Study Ref: Briones F. The effect of Barium carbonicum LM II and the combination of Calcium carbonicum LM 1 and Calcium phosphoricum LM II on the weight of pigs with retarded growth. J Vet Hom. 1989;4:2-4.
