Study of disbudding goat kids following injection of clove oil essence in horn bud region

Abstract

This study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of injection of essential oil of <em>Eugenia caryophyllata</em> in the kid horn buds, as a new chemical technique for disbudding. Five-day-old healthy goat kids from both sexes (n = 16) were divided randomly into 4 equal groups. In groups 1, 2 and 3, 0.2 mL of clove essence and in group 4 (control) 0.2 mL of normal saline was injected into the left horn bud of goat kids. Right horn bud in all kids was considered to ensure that they are horned. During the study, the rate of horn growth were evaluated in determined time intervals between groups 1 and 4. Tissue samples were taken from right and left horn bud in groups 2 and 3, at five and ten days after clove essence injection, for microscopic study. The results of the study showed that the clove essence stopped horn growth, whereas there was no significant difference in horn growth rate between left and right horns after injection of normal saline, in group 4. Histopathological study showed that injection of clove essence caused complete necrosis of epidermis and underlying dermis with collagenolysis in horn bud tissues, 5 days after injection and then progress in healing process was observed after 10 days. According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that the injection of clove essence is an effective method to stop horn growth without any undesirable effects on clinical parameters in goat kids.