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Can an injectable trace element supplement increase the immune response of dairy calves?
Bates, A.; Wells, M.; Laven, R...
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Objectives: This study was carried out on a pastoral spring calving dairy farm in New Zealand with approval from Massey University Animal Ethics Committee. It was designed to investigate the effect of TMS supplementation on the immune system in young calves before weaning.
Recent New Zealand (NZ) work suggests that neo-natal injection of a trace mineral supplement (TMS) containing copper, selenium, manganese, zinc and chromium can reduce morbidity and mortality on NZ dairy farms in the first 140 days of life. Overseas, evidence from older calves indicates this form of TMS leads to a heightened immune response. In light of the association between TMS and reductions in morbidity and mortality, this study was designed to investigate the effect of TMS supplementation under NZ pastoral conditions on the immune system in young calves before weaning.
Materials and methods: The first 40, Jersey-Friesian cross-bred heifer calves born after the mid-point of calving on a mid-Canterbury dairy farm (43.91° S, 171.75° E), were blood sampled within 24 hours of birth for serum total protein, Cu, Se and Zn. Thirty of these were selected, using stratified randomisation to form two equal groups (treatment and control) with the same distribution of serum total protein, Cu, Se, Zn and for the breed and age. From the remaining 10 calves, five were selected using stratified randomisation to form a sentinel group to verify no field exposure to Salmonella sp. occurred during the trial period.
All calves were housed in covered, open fronted bay-sheds with solid walls up to 1.5m in groups of 10-12 and 1.5m2 allocated space per calf. Treatment and sentinel groups were randomly distributed amongst the housing groups. Calves were bedded on wood chips which were topped up weekly and all calves remained on the farm of origin for the period of study.
All calves received two injections of a killed vaccine containing Salmonella typhimurium, S. bovis-morbificans, S. hindmarsh and S.Brandenburg at two and six weeks of age. At the same time as vaccination, the treatment group received an injection of a TMS containing 40mg Zn, 10mg Mn, 5mg Se, 15mg Cu per ml. Sentinel animals received no injections. All animals were bled weekly from 2-9 weeks. Samples were analysed for neutrophil and monocyte phagocytic function, gamma interferon response, Salmonella sp. antibody titres and serum selenium, copper and zinc and differences examined using Bayesian statistics.
Results: At weeks 3 and 4 there was a wide difference between TMS and control calves in the percentage of white blood cells phagocytosing with the 95% predictive interval (PI) for the difference in the distributions excluding zero (+15% (95%PI=10.0-20.0) and +8% (95%PI=2.0-13.0) respectively. At weeks 3,4 and 5 phagocytosis per cell was also greater in the TMS calves (+12% (95%PI=2.1-21.6), +19% (95%PI=8.2- 28.8) and +10% (95%PI=1.6-20.6) respectively). There was no statistical evidence of a difference in gamma interferon or antibody production between TMS and control claves although gamma interferon response was numerically greater in the TMS group.
Conclusions: This study adds to the evidence that TMS supplementation can increase some components of the innate immune systems in young calves. Neutrophil and monocyte function were increased, with a numerical increase in gamma interferon production. Although we found no conclusive evidence for an increase in antibody response in supplemented calves, both treatment groups showed an antibody response greater than the sentinel calves despite the presence of maternal immunity.
Keywords: Trace mineral supplement, mmunity, phagocytosis, calf.
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Affiliation of the authors at the time of publication
Vetlife Scientific Ltd, Temuka, New Zealand;
Virbac Ltd, Hamilton, New Zealand;
School of Veterinary Sciences, Massey University, New Zealand;
Vetlife Ashburton, Ashburton, New Zealand;
AgResearch, Hopkirk Research institute, New Zealand;
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Otago University, New Zealand.
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