PHOTO: CANVA
YOUNGSTOCK ▶▶▶
Researchers in- vestigated the effect of differ- ent liquid feeds on the growth, immunity and gut health of dairy calves.
immunoglobulin concentrations were suggested to result from the probable existence of antibiotic residues in waste milk that can improve the phagocytic activity of granulocytes in the blood. In addition to immunoglobulins, cytokines are essential to the immune function of calves. IL-6 is associated with the growth and differentiation of lymphocytes and B cells, and TNF-α often induces partial inflammatory changes and mediates systemic acute-phase responses to tissue injury and microbial invasion. Lower plasma concentrations of IL-6 and TNF-α in the calves of the waste milk group showed the potential of waste milk to improve the level of immunity in calves. A higher concentration of IL-10 in the waste milk group compared to milk replacer was found in this study. IL-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine that plays a pivotal role in the function of regulatory T cells that control inflammatory responses in the intestine.
Modulation of microbiota Most liquid feeds flow directly into the abomasum, and thus the intestine is the major digestion site for pre-weaned
Table 2 – Effects of waste milk on plasma immune indices of dairy calves at day 70.
Item
IgA (μg/ml) IgM (μg/ml) IgG (μg/ml) IL-2 (pg/ml) IL-6 (pg/ml) IL-10 (pg/ml) TNF-α (pg/ml)
Milk replacer 205.6c 222.0b 772.0c 190.7a 20.4
8.8b 28.3a Experimental diets
Mixture (50:50) Waste milk 313.5b 297.0a
372.7a 312.5a
1141.1b 141.6b 18.6 12.1a 24.3b
1: Values in the same row with different superscripts differ significantly (p<0.05). 34 ▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 9, No. 2, 2022
1314.6a 132.3b 16.7 12.9a 20.9c
calves. Gut microbiota during early life plays a vital role in modulating host intestinal barrier function, immune system development, metabolism and health. In this research, there was a decrease in bacterial diversity, for example, Escherichia coli and Lactobacillus were not different among treatments. The researchers said that a potential explanation for the de- creased bacterial diversity observed in the mixture group and waste milk group may be related to antimicrobial effects of antibiotics that might be present in waste milk. In this study, differences in faecal microbiota were only ob- served between milk replacer and waste milk groups only at day 49 of age. However, from day 49 to 70, the analysis of dif- ferential abundance showed that the increase in the relative abundance of Prevotellaceae NK3B31 group and the decrease in that of Bacteroides was higher in waste milk than in the mixture group. “As Bacteroides are markers of inflammation, the decrease in the relative abundance of these Bacteroides suggests that calves fed waste milk may establish more resist- ance to pathogens,” said the research team. They added that Prevotellaceae NK3B31 group can promote anti-inflammatory responses and that the differential abundance of this genus may explain the change in plasma concentrations of IgG and IL-2 between pre-weaned and post-weaned calves observed in this study. From this study, the researchers concluded that feeding waste milk to Holstein calves improves growth performance and health status compared to a milk replacer, which might be explained by enhanced immune function modulated by gut microbiota.
This article is based on the original by Xinyue Zhang, Tao Ma, Chuanteng Cheng, Jingyi Lv, Haixin Bai, Xin Jiang, Yonggen Zhang and Hangshu Xin. Effects of waste milk on growth performance, immunity, and gut health of dairy calves. Animal Feed Science and Technology.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2022.115241
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
