Effects of fractionated colostrum replacer and vitamins A, D, and E on haptoglobin and clinical health in neonatal Holstein calves challenged with Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis

Abstract

Thirty Holstein calves were obtained from 2 dairy farms in central Iowa at birth and randomly assigned to 1 of 6 treatment groups: (1) colostrum deprived (CD), no vitamins; (2) colostrum replacer (CR), no vitamins; (3) CR, vitamin A; (4) CR, vitamin D3; (5) CR, vitamin E; and (6) CR, vitamins A, D3, E, with 5 calves per treatment in a 14-d study. Calves were fed pasteurized whole milk (CD) or fractionated colostrum replacer (CR) at birth (d 0) and injected with vitamins according to treatment group. From d 1 through d 14 of the study, all calves were fed pasteurized whole milk (PWM) supplemented with vitamins as assigned. All calves were inoculated with Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis on d 1 and 3 of age. Calves fed CR acquired IgG1 and haptoglobin in serum within 24 h of birth, whereas CD calves did not. The CR-fed calves were 2.5 times less likely to develop scours, and CR calves supplemented with vitamins D3 and E also demonstrated a decreased incidence of scours. Serum vitamin levels of A, D, and E increased within treatment group by d 7 and 14 of the study. Interestingly, synergistic effects of supplemental vitamins A, D3, and E on serum 25-(OH)-vitamin D were observed at d 7, resulting in higher levels than in calves administered vitamin D only. Further, vitamin D3 deficiency was observed in CD and CR calves fed a basal diet of pasteurized whole milk and no supplemental vitamins. Colonization of tissues with Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis was negligible and was not affected by colostrum feeding or vitamin supplementation. Results demonstrated passive transfer of haptoglobin to neonatal calves, and potential health benefits of supplemental vitamins D3 and E to calves fed pasteurized whole milk.

Influence of Colostrum and Vitamins A, D3, and E on Early Intestinal Colonization of Neonatal Holstein Calves Infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis

“…This finding was more evident in CD calves compared to CR calves and relates to increased likelihood of clinical scours and depression. We previously noted that CD calves had greater occurrence of these clinical signs [16], conforming to the paradigm for dysbiosis [46]. This correlates with the higher burden of Campylobacter observed for CD calves.…”

“…This is an interesting observation as we were expecting that vitamins would improve tissue integrity thereby helping to thwart pathogen invasion. Calves in the present study had more than adequate serum levels of retinol, 25-(OH)-D 3 , and α-tocopherol by day 14, averaging 255 ng/mL, 97 ng/mL, and 2800 µg/mL, respectively [16], suggesting that deficiency of vitamin E was not the causative factor for this trend. Although vitamin E plays significant roles as an anti-oxidant and an immunomodulatory agent [40,41], a comprehensive study of dairy cows in the Netherlands found that feeding 3000 IU/day of vitamin E combined with high plasma levels of vitamin E at dry-off led to an increased incidence of mastitis [42].…”

“…Thirty male Holstein calves were obtained at birth from two local dairy farms that were tested negative for Johne's disease and randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups: (1) Colostrum deprived (CD), no vitamins; (2) colostrum replacer (CR), no vitamins; (3) colostrum replacer, vitamin A (CR-A); (4) colostrum replacer, vitamin D 3 (CR-D); (5) colostrum replacer, vitamin E (CR-E); (6) colostrum replacer, vitamins A, D 3 , and E (CR-ADE), with five calves per treatment in a 14-day study (Figure 1) [16]. All calves received a first feeding of colostrum replacer or pasteurized whole milk (PWM) within 4 h of birth; the CD calves were fed 1.9 L of PWM (Iowa State University Dairy Farm, Ames, IA, USA) as a control, whereas calves in the remaining five treatment groups received 375 g of fractionated colostrum replacer (Milk Products, Chilton, WI, USA) reconstituted in 1.9 L water.…”

“…All calves were inoculated twice via dietary milk with 10 8 cfu per dose of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), strain 167 (clinical isolate, NADC, Ames, IA, USA) in PWM, as previously described [16] during the morning feedings of days 1 and 3. The study was designed to evaluate effects of colostrum and vitamins on early MAP infection so there were no uninfected calves in this study.…”

Carotenoids buffer the acute phase response on fever, sickness behavior, and rapid bill color change in zebra finches

“…A central APR-upregulated hepatic protein, haptoglobin, has strong antioxidant activity (Quaye, 2008) and plays a role in suppressing inflammation (Huntoon et al, 2008;Krueger et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2001). Carotenoids have been found to influence hepatic proteins (Ben-Dor et al, 2005;Zhang et al, 1992) that are upregulated during the APR (Hart, 1988).…”