Colostrum and passive immunity in newborn calves: a review

Transmission of immunoglobulins (Ig) from mother to newborns, classified as passive transmission of immunity, is a critical factor in protecting newborns from infectious diseases. Syndesmochorial structure of the cows placenta prevents the transfer of Ig from the mother to the fetus, so calves are born agammaglobulinemic, that is, without their own Ig, which they receive when consuming colostrum. Obtaining colostrum with high Ig content is the main factor of growth, development and protection of calves in the early postnatal period against pathogens in the environment. Universal media passive immunity is IgG. Violation of passive transfer of Ig leads to an increase in sickness rate and mortality and is considered as an important economic problem for industrial farming. The review discusses the current understanding of the properties, function and importance of cow colostrum in the formation of the immune status of newborn calves and their resistance to disease in the early postnatal period.

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Formation of colostral immunity in calfs on the background of the application of immunostimulators to cows

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1315/935/1/012044 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 935 (1) ◽

pp. 012044

Author(s):

V G Semenov ◽

E S Matveeva ◽

D E Biryukova ◽

A N Maykotov ◽

S G Kondruchina ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Conditions ◽

Postnatal Period ◽

The Body ◽

Early Postnatal Period ◽

Farm Animals ◽

Veterinary Science ◽

Biological Resource ◽

Resource Potential ◽

Newborn Calves

Abstract A scientific and practical substantiation of the need for the timely formation of colostral immunity in calves to create nonspecific protection of the body and adaptation of newborns to new environmental conditions is given, which is the most important problem of modern veterinary science and practice. Colostral immunity is immunity that develops in newborns due to colostral immunoglobulins during the first 24-36 hours of life. For some newborn farm animals (horses, ruminants and pigs), antibodies are transmitted to offspring only through colostrum in the early postnatal period. In order to increase the nonspecific defenses of the body of mothers cows, the formation of colostral immunity in newborn calves and the realization of the biological resource potential of the body, immunostimulants were used, developed by scientists of the Chuvash State Agrarian University: Prevention-N-B-S and Salus-PE.

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Influence of polymorphism of the kappa-casein gene of cows on the development of calves in the early postnatal period

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202126202002 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 262 ◽

pp. 02002

Author(s):

Olga Polozyuk ◽

Margarita Zabelina ◽

Tatiana Preobrazhenskaya ◽

Igor Tyurin ◽

Elena Lakota

Keyword(s):

Gastrointestinal Tract ◽

Live Weight ◽

Postnatal Period ◽

Early Postnatal Period ◽

Casein Gene ◽

Homozygous Genotype ◽

Newborn Calves

The authors found that the density of colostrum in cows with a homozygous genotype for the B allele of the kappa-casein gene was higher compared to the homozygous genotype for the A allele and had a greater amount of immunoglobulins by 29.5 mg/l, respectively. The formation of high colostral immunity in calves obtained from cows of mothers of genotypes AB and BB prevented the occurrence of diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and in calves obtained from mothers of genotype AA genotype kappa-casein with a reduced amount of immunoglobulins in colostrum, it led to the development of diarrhea in 12% of newborn calves. The dynamics of the live weight of calves obtained from cows of mothers with the AA genotype of the kappa-casein gene, during the first 30 days of life, was 6.34 and 4.78 kg lower than in young cows with the BB and AB genotypes of the kappa-casein gene. At the age of one month, the leukocyte content in calves obtained from cows from mothers with a homozygous genotype for allele A of the kappa-casein gene was less by 10.8 and 16.2%, and hemoglobin by 10.5 and 10.7%.

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