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The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of added natural mineral adsorber zeolite (clinoptilolite) to the colostrum on the degree of absorption of colostral IgG in 60 Holstein newborn calves fed different amounts of colostrum during the first two days of life. Calves were divided in four groups: 1) experimental group I received 0.75L of colostrum with 5g/L of clinoptilolite in 12h intervals (0.75+); 2) experimental group II received 1.5L of colostrum with 5g/L of zeolites in 12h intervals (1.5+); 3) control group I received 0.75L of colostrum in 12h intervals (0.75-); 4) control group II received 1.5L of colostrum in 12h intervals (1.5-). In blood sera from experimental group I, concentrations of IgG were 15.79±6.53 g/l; 21.81 ±9.29 g/L and 20.30±8.64 g/L respectively 6, 24 and 48 hours after birth. IgG concentrations in the sera of experimental group II were 22.21 ±8.79 35.20±8.43 and 30.51 ±9.86 respectively 6, 24 and 48 hours after birth. In the blood sera of the first control group concentrations of IgG were 9.89±4.97; 18.07±5.32 and 15.84±4.92 respectively 6, 24 and 48 hours after birth. IgG concentrations of the second control group were 14.53±7.19 25.39±11.57 and 22.88±8.63 respectively 6, 24 and 48 hours after birth. The statistical significance of the difference in mean IgG concentrations between experimental group I and the first control group was high after 6 (p<0.05) hours after birth. In this groups, the difference was not statistically significant 24 and 48 hours after birth. The statistical significance of the difference in levels of IgG between the experimental group II and the second control group was high after 6 (p<0.001), 24 (p<0.01) and 48 (p<0.05) hours. It can be seen that the absorption rate of colostral IgG in calves from the experimental groups I and II was approximately 40% higher than in the respective control groups. The mean concentrations of IgG in the colostrum samples used to feed the calves were almost equal during the observed period. Agarose-gel electrophoresis of serum proteins 48 hours after birth showed in the gamma electrophoretic zone a more intesively colored fraction for the treated animals compared to the analogous fraction on the electrophoresogram of serum proteins in the control group. Imunoglobulin G concentrations in the sera of calves who received 0.75 I of colostrum with clinoptilolite were almost equal to imunoglobulin G concentrations in the sera of calves who received 1.51 of colostrum at 6 hours after birth (this effect is present at 24 and 48 hours after birth). It can be seen that calves which received an insufficient amount of colostrum with clinoptilolite had the same concentrations of serum IgG compared to the calves which received the full ration of colostrum. The data from this investigation show that a concentration of 5 g/l of clinoptilolite based mineral adsorber in the colostrum leads to a significantly higher degree of absorption of colostral IgG in newborn calves

Calf bronchopneumonia is complex multifactorial disease and for its accurate diagnosis and therapy, besides clinical examination, microbiologic, hematologic and biochemical analyses could be necessary. In general, additional analyses are not implemented, mainly because the disease biomarkers are not defined. To establish which analysis might be useful for determining the severity of the disease, we analyzed 23 three-month old calves with mild clinical signs of bronchopneumonia and 15 age-matched healthy calves. Pasteurella multocida was isolated from deep nasal swabs of diseased calves. Peripheral blood erythrocyte and leukocyte count of bronchopneumonic and healthy calves showed no difference. Serum proteins, lipoproteins and lipids were analyzed with spectrophotometry, agarose gel electrophoresis, non-reducing SDS-PAGE, gel zymography, and thin-layer chromatography. The bronchopneumonic calves had an increased level of circulating immune complexes and α globulins, which contain some of the positive acute phase proteins. In diseased calves the increased concentration of total γ globulins (IgG), due to an increased concentration of anionic γ globulins (predominately IgG1), was detected. The increased concentration of anionic γ globulins followed by increased concentration of transferrin (negative acute phase protein) and HDL cholesterol, decreased concentration of LDL-cholesterol, unchanged activity of matrix metalloproteases and leukocyte counts might reflect the obvious absence of generalized inflammation. A positive correlation was found between the acquired results and the appearance of mild clinical signs. Therefore, we believe that the parameters analyzed in the peripheral blood could be applied as reliable disease markers to distinguish between severe (inflammatory) and mild forms of calf bronchopneumonia and to predict a better outcome for these calves.

The polymorphism of 11 microsatellite DNA markers (TGLA227, BM2113, TGLA53, ETH10, SPS115, TGLA126, TGLA122, INRA23, ETH3, ETH225, BM1824) was analyzed in order to assess the usefulness of these markers for pedigree verification in the Serbian population of Simmental cattle. A total of 86 animals were involved in the study. Genomic DNA was extracted from sperm and blood and amplified in a multiplex PCR using primers from the commercial 'StockMarks for Cattle® Bovine Genotyping Kit'. Analyses were done with automated DNA sizing technology. A total of 92 alleles were detected. The mean number of alleles (nA) per locus was 8.364, the mean value of polymorphism information content (PIC) was 0.73, and the mean frequency of the most frequent allele (FNA) was 0.372. The most polymorphic microsatellite loci were: TGLA53 (14 alleles, PIC=0.88, FNA=0.235), TGLA227 (11 alleles, PIC=0.82, FNA=0.274), INRA23 (11 alleles, PIC=0.86, FNA=0.167), BM2113 (9 alleles, PIC=0.84, FNA=0.330). Both combined power of discrimination (CPD) and combined power of exclusion (CPE) for the whole set of studied markers were 0.999. In conclusion, the polymorphism of 11 microsatellite DNA markers observed in this study indicate its usefulness for paternity testing and pedigree verification in Simmental cattle from Serbia