ABSORPTION OF PROTEIN AND IGG IN CALVES FED A COLOSTRUM REPLACER

• Sponsoring Institution: Cooperating Schools of Veterinary Medicine
• Project Status: COMPLETE
• Funding Source: STATE
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1003484
• Project Start Date: Jun 30, 2014
• Project End Date: Jan 31, 2015
• Program Code: [(N/A)]- (N/A)

Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIV
(N/A)
RALEIGH,NC 27695

Performing Department
College of Vet Medicine

Non Technical Summary
Transfer of colostral immunoglobulins to neonatal calves is fundamental to calf health early in life. Failure of this transfer of immunoglobulins (FPT) leads to a 5 fold increase in the risk of death, leading to a pre-weaning mortality rate of approximately 8% in dairy heifers. Furthermore, FPT can negatively impact calf growth rate and milk production years later. In spite of significant research and educational efforts over the past two decades, the rate of FPT in dairy calves is 19.2% overall and over 13% even when feeding colostrum according to best management practices. This bacterial overgrowth in colostrum is common and partly to blame for this high rate of FPT as it can decrease absorption of colostral immunglobulins. Further, important pathogens including Salmonella spp., M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis, and bovine leukemia virus can be spread through colostrum.Colostrum replacers have been used as alternative to maternal colostrum to provide a convenient source of colostrum free of pathogens. Unfortunately, peer-reviewed research demonstrates that most of these commercial products are inadequate to provide adequate serum IgG concentrations to prevent FPT, and there is a clear need for a more effective colostrum replacer. This project will answer this need by determining the effectiveness of a new colostrum replacer being developed by AgriLabs. We expect the outcome of the work outlined in this proposal will establish this colostrum replacer as an excellent alternative to maternal colostrum, ideally suited for widespread use in the dairy industry to significantly reduce risk of pathogen transmission and decrease the rate of failure of passive transfer in dairy calves, leading to improved calf health.

Animal Health Component

25%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

75%

Applied

25%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
315	3410	1100	100%

Knowledge Area
315 - Animal Welfare/Well-Being and Protection;

Subject Of Investigation
3410 - Dairy cattle, live animal;

Field Of Science
1100 - Bacteriology;

Keywords

agriculture

dairy calf health

colostrum

Goals / Objectives
To determine if administration of a novel colostrum replacer with 150 grams of IgG will prevent failure of passive transfer in Holstein dairy calves if fed within three hours of birth.

Project Methods
Forty Holstein calves will be randomly allocated at birth to one of two treatment groups for this study. They will be housed at the NC State Dairy Education Unit in Raleigh, NC or the NC Department of Agriculture Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury, NC. Personnel at both farms have extensive experience in performing colostrum trials. Calves will be separated from their dam following an observed parturition and will not be allowed to nurse. Individual calf weights will be recorded. Calves used in the study will need to weigh at least 60 pounds (27 kg), and all animals born as twins will be excluded. After birth, calves will be randomly allocated to 1 of 2 groups. Calves in group 1 (n=20) will receive four quarts of colostrum within three hours of birth via an esophageal feeder. Calves in group 2 (n=20) will receive one package of an experimental colostrum replacer (mixed with 2 quarts of water). The colostrum replacer provided by AgriLabs will contain 150 grams of IgG. All calves in each group will be fed with an esophageal feeder within three hours of birth.A blood sample will be collected from the jugular vein of each calf 24 hours after colostrum or colostrum replacer administration. The serum will be stored at -4º C until analysis. Radial immunodiffusion assays will be run on each maternal colostrum sample and on serum from each calf to determine the IgG concentration using a bovine IgG species reference serum that was obtained from USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB). The assay has been validated for use in calves.1 Protein concentrations in serum samples will be determined using a digital temperature compensating refractometer. Following blood collection, the calves will follow their normal feeding and management protocols.Outcome measures of interest include average serum IgG and total protein concentrations of each group, percentage of calves with FPT (serum IgG of less than 1000 mg/dL at 24 hours of age) and apparent efficiency of absorption. This will be calculated as follows:AEA=serum IgG concentration (g/L) X body weight (kg) X 0.07 {estimated percent blood volume} / colostral IgG concentration (g/L) X volume of colostrum administered (L) X 100

Progress 06/30/14 to 01/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience: Sponsor: AgriLabs; Dairy Cattle Industry Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Final report submitted to sponsor, AgriLabs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Forty-two Holstein calves were randomly allocated at birth to one of two treatment groups for this study. They were housed at the NC State Dairy Education Unit in Raleigh, NC. Calves were separated from their dam following an observed parturition and were not be allowed to nurse. Calves used in the study needed to weigh at least 60 pounds (27 kg), and all animals born as twins were excluded. After birth, calves were randomly allocated to 1 of 2 groups. Calves in group 1 (n=21) received four quarts of colostrum within three hours of birth via an esophageal feeder. Calves in group 2 (n=21) received one package of an experimental colostrum replacer (mixed with 2 quarts of water). The colostrum replacer was provided by AgriLabs and contained 150 grams of IgG. All calves in each group will be fed with an esophageal feeder within three hours of birth. A blood sample was collected from the jugular vein of each calf 24 hours after colostrum or colostrum replacer administration. The serum was stored at -4º C until analysis. Serum IgG concentrations were determined by radial immunodiffusion assays using a bovine IgG species reference serum that was obtained from USDA Center for Veterinary Biologics (CVB). The assay has been validated for use in calves.1 Results Data are presented as mean ± SD. Mean serum IgG concentrations for each group were compared using one-way ANOVA. Values of P < 0.05 were considered significant. The proportion of calves in each group with serum IgG concentration less than 1,000 g/dL (to determine FTPI incidence) was compared to other groups using Fisher's exact test. Calves fed colostrum replacer had significantly lower mean serum IgG concentrations as compared to calves fed maternal colostrum, however there was no difference in the percentage of calves that had failure of transfer of passive immunity (Table 1). Conclusion Compared to the previous study done on the same dairy with Colostrx® 130 (Fidler et al.,2011), the results indicate the experimental formulation of colostrum replacer performed much better than the current product. In fact - 1 bag of the experimental products was almost identical to 2 bags of the current product in the previous study. The results of this study suggests that the "new" formula is capable of consistently achieving serum IgG concentrations >1,000 mg/dL in approximately 80% of calves fed 1 bag within a few hours of birth. References Chelack BJ, Morley PS, Haines DM. Evaluation of methods for dehydration of bovine colostrum for total replacement of normal colostrum in calves. Can Vet J 1993;34:407-412. Fidler, A.P., Alley, M.L., Smith, G.W. Serum immunoglobulin G and total protein concentrations in dairy calves fed a colostrum-replacement product. J Dairy Sci 2011;94:3609-3612. Table 1. Mean ± SD values for serum IgG and the percentage of failure of transfer of passive immunity (FTPI) in calves fed colostrum or an experimental colostrum replacer. Group Serum IgG (mg/dL) FTPI1 (%) Group 1 (1 bag CR) 1,250 ± 71a 80.9a (4/21) Group 2 (maternal colostrum) 2,390 ± 200b 90.5a (2/21)

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