Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
- soheil mirhabibi 1
- Mohammad Asadi 2
- Mojtaba Haghighat 1
- Hossein Emrani 3
- Yagob Soleymani nanadeganiy 1
1 Department of animal science, Golpayegan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Golpayegan, Iran
2 Dept. of Animal Sciences Research, Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Gorgan, Gorgan, Iran
3 Biotechnology Research Department , Animal Science Research Institute of Iran, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran
Abstract
Objective: The future of the dairy farm is the result of the proper rearing of the herd's suckling calves; therefore, attention to nutritional factors and disease prevention, which have a great impact on reducing mortality and economic losses to the farm in the early stages of life, is of great importance. Since the structure of the cow's placenta separates the maternal and fetal blood supplies, the calf is born without immunoglobulins and completely depends on the absorption of immunoglobulins from colostrum to obtain adequate immunity and protection against pathogenic organisms until its own immunity is established in 3 to 4 weeks. Adequate passive transfer has several short-term and long-term benefits, including reducing the risk of complications and mortality before and after weaning, increasing the rate of weight gain and feed efficiency, and increasing milk production and survival in livestock. Whether the calf ingests sufficient amounts of immunoglobulinG (IgG) depends on the volume and concentration of IgG in the colostrum fed. There are different recommendations regarding the appropriate amount and frequency of colostrum intake by calves due to the increase in the volume of colostrum produced, its intake has increased in some dairy units in recent years. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of colostrum (as a percentage of body weight) on performance, blood parameters, skeletal growth, and immune transfer of suckling calves.
Methods: The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of colostrum on performance, skeletal growth, blood parameters and immune transfer of suckling calves using 32 newborn calves in a completely randomized design with 4 treatments and 8 replications (4 male and 4 female calves). The experimental treatments included: 1) calves that received 14% of their body weight of colostrum, 2) calves that received 16% of their body weight of colostrum, 3) calves that received 18% of their body weight of colostrum and 4) calves that received 20% of their body weight of colostrum. The duration of the experiment was 32 days.
Results: The results showed that no changes were observed in daily weight gain, final weight, height and chest circumference of calves among the treatments consuming different levels of colostrum. The use of different levels of colostrum based on percentages of body weight had no effect on serum IgG concentrations of suckling calves of different treatments at three time points: 24 and 48 hours and 30 days after birth. The use of different levels of colostrum had no effect on total protein, glucose, cholesterol, and blood triglycerides of suckling calves 24 hours after the initial colostrum and on day 30 of the experiment. However, regarding blood albumin on day 30 of the experiment, there was a significant difference between the treatments receiving different levels of colostrum (P≥0.05).
Conclusion: In general, different levels of colostrum intake did not have a positive effect on performance, immunity, or blood parameters of suckling calves. Thus, colostrum intake of 14% of calf body weight or less seems to be sufficient.
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