Effect of supplementation with n -3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and/or β-glucans on performance, feeding behaviour and immune status of Holstein Friesian bull calves during the pre- and post-weaning periods.

Autor: McDonnell RP; 1School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.; Present address: GippsDairy, 71 Korumburra-Warragul Road, Warragul, VIC 3820 Australia., O' Doherty JV; 1School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland., Earley B; Teagasc Animal and Bioscience Research Department, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre (AGRIC), Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland., Clarke AM; 1School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland., Kenny DA; 1School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.; Teagasc Animal and Bioscience Research Department, Animal and Grassland Research and Innovation Centre (AGRIC), Grange, Dunsany, Co. Meath, Ireland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of animal science and biotechnology [J Anim Sci Biotechnol] 2019 Jan 29; Vol. 10, pp. 7. Date of Electronic Publication: 2019 Jan 29 (Print Publication: 2019).
DOI: 10.1186/s40104-019-0317-x
Abstrakt: Background: Previous research in both calves and other species has suggested n -3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and β-glucans may have positive effects on immune function. This experiment measured performance, behaviour, metabolite and immunological responses to pre-weaning supplementation of dairy bull calves with n -3 PUFA in the form of fish oil and β-glucans derived from seaweed extract. 44 Holstein Friesian bull calves, aged 13.7 ± 2.5 d and weighing 48.0 ± 5.8 kg were artificially reared using an electronic feeding system. Each calf was offered 5 L (120 g/L) per day of milk replacer (MR) and assigned to one of four treatments included in the MR, (1) Control (CON); (2) 40 g n -3 PUFA per day (FO); (3) 1 g β-glucans per day (GL) and (4) 40 g n -3 PUFA per day & 1 g/d β-glucans (FOGL) in a 2 × 2 factorial design. Milk replacer and concentrate was offered from d 0-62 (pre-weaning), while concentrate provision continued for a further 31 d post-weaning period. Individual daily feed intake and feeding behaviour was recorded throughout, while bodyweight and blood analyte data were collected at regular intervals.
Results: Overall mean concentrate DMI from d 0-93 was 1.39, 1.27, 1.00 and 0.72 kg/d for CON, FO, GL and FOGL calves, respectively (SEM = 0.037; P  < 0.0001). Calves supplemented with GL were significantly lighter ( P  < 0.0001) at both weaning (d 62) and turnout to pasture (d 93) than un-supplemented calves, with a similar effect ( P  < 0.0001) evident for calves receiving FO compared to un-supplemented contemporaries. Supplementation with GL reduced the number of unrewarded visits where milk was not consumed ( P  < 0.0001) while supplementation with FO increased mean drinking speed ( P  < 0.0001). Supplementation with GL resulted in greater concentrations of haptoglobin ( P  = 0.034), greater serum osmolality ( P  = 0.021) and lower lymphocyte levels ( P  = 0.027). In addition, cells from GL supplemented calves exhibited a lower response than un-supplemented contemporaries to both Phytohaemagglutinin A stimulated IFN-γ ( P  = 0.019) and Concanavalin A stimulated IFN-γ ( P  = 0.012) following in vitro challenges.
Conclusions: Pre-weaning supplementation of bull calves with either n -3 PUFA or β-glucan resulted in reduced voluntary feed intake of concentrate and consequently poorer pre-weaning calf performance. There was no evidence for any beneficial effect of either supplementation strategy on calves' immune responses.
Competing Interests: All procedures involving animals were approved for the use of live animals in experiments by the Animal Research Ethics Committee, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland, and were licensed by the Irish government’s Department of Health and Children, in accordance with Cruelty to Animal Act (Ireland 1897) and European Community Directive 86/609/EC.Not applicable.The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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