Dataset Information

Feeding Calves with Pasteurized Colostrum and Milk Has a Positive Long-Term Effect on Their Productive Performance.

ABSTRACT: Female calves, checked for serum total protein ? 5.8 g/dL before 5 days of life, entered the study at 22 days of age after having received pasteurized colostrum and milk (P group, n = 127), or non-pasteurized colostrum and milk (NP group, n = 134). During the heifer-rearing period, productive (body weight; BW) and health parameters (bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and diarrhea) were recorded. Productive (305-d milk yield), reproductive (AI per pregnancy and calving interval), and health parameters (milk somatic cell count; SCC/mL), as well as age at culling, were recorded in a follow-up study. Feeding on-farm pasteurized colostrum and milk during the first 21 days of life reduced morbidity of bovine respiratory disease during the first year of life and diarrhea during the first 180 days of life. Moreover, it increased BW at calving during the first three lactations. It also significantly increases milk production during the first lactation. However, there were no differences in relation to reproductive performance and health of cows in the NP or P group. These results highlight that feeding calves with pasteurized colostrum and milk could improve health and production parameters throughout the heifer-rearing process and during their first lactation.

SUBMITTER: Armengol R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7552247 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Feeding Calves with Pasteurized Colostrum and Milk Has a Positive Long-Term Effect on Their Productive Performance.

Armengol Ramon R Fraile Lorenzo L

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20200824 9

Female calves, checked for serum total protein ≥ 5.8 g/dL before 5 days of life, entered the study at 22 days of age after having received pasteurized colostrum and milk (P group, <i>n</i> = 127), or non-pasteurized colostrum and milk (NP group, <i>n</i> = 134). During the heifer-rearing period, productive (body weight; BW) and health parameters (bovine respiratory disease (BRD) and diarrhea) were recorded. Productive (305-d milk yield), reproductive (AI per pregnancy and calving interval), and ...[more]

PMID: 32847051

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Project description:BackgroundNutrition has not only an impact on the general wellbeing of an animal but can also affect reproductive processes. In cattle, feeding regimes can influence the age of puberty onset and alter gonadal development. We analyzed effects of different milk replacer (MR) feeding regimes during rearing on ovarian physiology with specific emphasis on the numbers as well as gene expression characteristics of granulosa cells (GCs) at the age of puberty onset. Two groups of calves received either 10% or 20% of bodyweight MR per day during their first 8 weeks. After weaning, both groups were fed the same mixed ration ad libitum until slaughter at 8 months.ResultsAnimals of the 20% feeding group had a significantly higher body weight, but the proportion of animals having a corpus luteum at the time of slaughter was not different between groups, suggesting a similar onset of puberty. Calves of the 10% group showed a constant GC count regardless of the number of follicles (r = 0.23) whereas in the 20% group increasing numbers of GCs were detected with a higher follicle count (r = 0.71). As a first effort to find a possible molecular explanation for this unexpected limitation of GC numbers in the 10% group, we comparatively analyzed GC transcriptomes in both diet groups. The mRNA microarray analysis revealed a total of 557 differentially expressed genes comparing both groups (fold change > |1.5| and p < 0.05). OAS1X, MX2 and OAS1Z were among the top downregulated genes in the 20% vs. the 10% group, whereas top upregulated genes comprised BOLA and XCL1. All of these genes are known to be regulated by interferon. Subsequent signaling pathway analysis revealed the involvement of several immune response mechanisms in accordance with a number of interferons as upstream regulators.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the plane of MR feeding in early life has an impact on the number and physiology of GCs later in life. This might influence the overall reproductive life initiated by the onset of puberty in cattle. In addition, the observed alterations in GCs of calves fed less MR might be a consequence of interferon regulated immunological pathways.

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Dataset Information

Feeding Calves with Pasteurized Colostrum and Milk Has a Positive Long-Term Effect on Their Productive Performance.

Publications

Feeding Calves with Pasteurized Colostrum and Milk Has a Positive Long-Term Effect on Their Productive Performance.

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