The Nutritive Value of Colostrum for the Calf

Abstract

The nutritional importance of lecithin for newborn animals has been demonstrated in America. Esh, Sutton, Hibbs & Krauss (1948) compared the performance of calves receiving colostrum for the first 7 days of life with that of calves deprived of colostrum but given skim milk containing a daily supplement of 25,000-37,500 i.u. vitamin A, and with that of calves that received in addition 3-4'5 g of soya-bean lecithin. Three of the five calves given the vitamin A supplement died within the first I I days of life, and the remaining two scoured from the 3rd to the 10th day. Low blood levels indicated that their vitamin A absorption was poor, whereas the blood level and the growth rate of the calves given lecithin as well as vitamin A were similar to those of the colostrum-fed calves. These authors also suggested that the liver storage of vitamin A was appreciably higher in calves given lecithin and vitamin A than in calves given vitamin A alone. Similarly, Esh & Sutton (1948) found that the addition of lecithin to vitamin A increased weight gains and the liver storage of vitamin A in rats. She%, Gallegos, Grummer, Phillips & Bohstedt (195 I ) found more recently that piglets deprived of colostrum scoured severely and died within 4-5 days unless 5 % of soya-bean lecithin was emulsified with the lard used in their semi-synthetic diet.

IM-133N - A Useful Herbal Combination for Eradicating Disease-triggering Pathogens in Mice via Immunotherapeutic Mechanisms

“…The ZST test is the most widely used and highly accepted method for quantifying the specific immunoglobulin levels to determine the IM activity of test drugs. In the present study, the ZST test was modified to determine the correlation between the concentration of specific immune globulins present in the serum and the intensity of the ZST reaction that developed [ 11 , 12 ]. The findings clearly showed that pretreatment with various doses of IM-133N (125, 250, 500 and 1,000 mg/kg, p.o.)…”

“…In the first set of experiments, the strength of Escherichia coli ( E. coli ) required for inducing abdominal sepsis and 100% mortality was established, and based on the results, the effect IM- 133N against E. coli induced abdominal sepsis and mortality was evaluated in the second set of experiments. In the first set, a pathogenic strain of E. coli was subcultured in a nutrient broth by using a shaker water bath at 37°C, and the total viable-cell count was observed from the MacConkey agar plates [ 11 , 12 ]. Different doses of E. coli were administered intraperitoneally to different groups of animals to elucidate the dose of viable E. coli cells required to cause abdominal sepsis with 100% mortality within 48 hours.…”

“…In brief, for each serum sample, a control tube containing 6 mL of saline (blank) and a test tube containing 6 mL of zinc sulphate solution (208 mg/L,), pH 5.8, were prepared, and to each of these tubes 0.1 mL of serum was added. The tubes were inverted to enable complete mixing of the reagents and allowed to stand for 1 hour at room temperature; subsequently, the turbidity that developed in each tube was measured at a wavelength of 498 nm by using a spectrophotometer [ 11 , 12 ].…”

Factors influencing the quantity and quality of colostrum in the cow

“…The nature of this protection has been the object of much study and it is now well established that protection is due to the presence of immunoglobulins in the colostral whey (Aschaffenburg et al 1951). Only when calves are fed either whey or the extracted immunoglobulins are they protected.…”