Effect of different immunoglobulin sources on haematology and serum biochemistry of beetal kids under stall-fed conditions

Abstract

Twenty four beetal kids were assessed through immunoglobulin supplementation from different sources by assessment of haematological profiles and serum biochemistry. The kids were randomly distributed and supplemented through immunoglobulin from four different sources i.e. natural milk (C₀), natural colostrum (C₁), artificial colostrums (C₂) and dam's serum (C₃). C₁ and C₀ acted as positive and negative control, respectively, whereas, C₂ and C₃ acted as treatment groups. Up to five days, kids of C₀, C₁ and C₂ received the same at 10% of their body weight. Kids of C₃ received their dam's serum at 5ml/day through subcutaneous route. After five days, all kids received milk up to 90 days along with creep feed and green fodder from 15th days onwards. Blood from each kid was collected from jugular vein on day 0, 6th, 15th, 30th, 60th and 90th days for analysis of haematological and biochemical profiles. There was no effect of different Ig sources on different haematological and biochemical profiles except lymphocytes and neutrophils. Though neutrophils and lymphocytes differed significantly (P < 0.05) among groups, they were within normal range. From immunoglobulin point of view artificial colostrum and dam's serum proved to be as equal as natural colostrum. Furthermore, dam's serum may be a good alternative to natural colostrums if not available.

Keywords:

• beetal kids
• immunoglobulin
• colostrums
• dam's serum

1. Introduction

Indian goat production system is observing fast transformation from extensive to stall-feeding system for a variety of reasons (Argüello 2011). Goat rearing under stall-fed conditions need intensive care to avoid mortalities especially in kids. Reported kid mortality under stall-fed condition is up to 10% during pre-weaning period (Aldomy Hussein et al. 2009); however, usually it is being higher under field conditions (Ershaduzzaman et al. 2007). Immunoglobulin in various concentrations usually responsible for immunity in new-born kids. As per reports of Constant et al. (1994) for intensive system or Mellado et al. (1998) for extensive conditions, kids with serum IgG concentration >800 mg/dl during the first 48 hours of life have lower morbidity and mortality than kids with lower serum IgG levels. Syndesmochorial placenta of goats prevent the transmission of immunoglobulin (Ig) in utero, and kids are born with compromised level of Ig especially IgG. For approximately 24 h after parturition, intestinal epithelial cells absorb macromolecules such as Ig. Faulty management practices like delayed colostrum feeding (Moreno-Indias et al. 2012), under-feeding, no colostrum feeding, etc. resulted in failure of IgG transfer in kids and makes them prone to various infectious agents sometime which lead to death. Feeding of high-quality colostrum or its analogue is the most effective way to obtain sufficient immunoglobulin level and immunity in kids. Klaus et al. (1969) reported that 30% of calves that consumed colostrum remained hypogammaglobulinemic. Serum transfusions have been explored as one of the emerging technique to prevent hypogammaglobulinemia in neonates (Gustafson et al. 2008). Required concentrations achieved after I/P and S/C administration were comparable to those in kittens that suckled normally (Levy et al. 2001). Poffenbarger et al. (1991) obtained similar results by injecting serum in dog. Artificial colostrum has been used in place of natural colostrum to achieve optimum serum immunoglobulin levels (Solanes et al. 1995). However, Constant et al. (1994) does not achieved optimum blood IgG level by artificial colostrum, as compared to kids fed with goat colostrum. Indeed, the use of artificial colostrum in kids resulted with certain pathological conditions like pneumonia (Bernabe et al. 1998) and poor growth (Ramirez et al. 1996).

Use of different immunological sources to boost the immunity in kids may pose a threat on physiological phenomenon. Haematology and serum biochemistry may prove to be an important tool to assess the amenable physiological phenomenon of kids after getting colostrum of various types. However, literatures on said aspect in goats, especially under the agro-climatic conditions of India vis-a-vis Punjab, are scanty. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the effect of different immunological sources on haematological and serum biochemical profiles of kids under stall-fed condition up to weaning period of three months.

2. Material and methods

2.1. Location and experimental design

This study was conducted, from July to October 2013, at University Goat Research Farm. It is located at 30^o54′N latitude, 75^o48′E longitude and 247 m above mean sea level. The said study was undertaken after permission of the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee. Experiment was conducted on 24 farm-born beetal kids. Kids at the age of zero day were divided into four groups each having six kids that are C₀ (control) group in which no immunoglobulin source was given, C₁ (natural colostrum) group in which natural colostrum was given for first five days after every six hours at 10% body weight of kid, C₂ (artificial colostrum) group in this group kid were given artificial colostrum for first five days, C₃(dam's serum) group in which dam's serum was injected S/C in kids. Milk was given four times a day and creep feed and green fodder was started at 15th day of age.

2.2. Housing and general management

Kids of different groups during entire experiment were kept in an enclosure made up of wire meshed iron panels having an effective area of 1.44 m². Feeders having dimensions (length × width × depth) of 12″ × 8″ × 5.5″ (smaller) and 18″ × 12″ × 6″ (larger) were fixed in each enclosure. Open area of shed was used for providing at least 4–5 hours exercise to kids. Additionally, there were at least two watering points in open area for free access of clean potable drinking water. Five-day old kids were milk-fed individually at 10% of their body weight up to weaning (90 days) by baby feeder as described by Castro-Alonso et al. (2008). Measured creep feed and green fodder were introduced from 15th day onwards, in group during 1st month and individually during 2nd and 3rd months, to all kids on ad libitum basis. Creep or concentrate feed was offered in morning (10:00 am) and fodder in evening (3:00 pm) hour.

2.3. Blood collection

Blood samples (5 ml) were collected aseptically from jugular vein on 0th, 6th, 15th, 30th, 60th and 90th day in EDTA coated vials (Accuvete disposables). The whole blood, immediately after collection, was used for determination of haematological parameters as described by Jain (1986). For serum samples, blood was collected in fluoride and gel tubes for glucose and other biochemical parameters, respectively. Samples were centrifuged at 3000 RPM for 10 min. Serum was stored at −20°C until analysed.

2.4. Haematological parameters

Haematology was done by Sahili's method, packed cell volume (PCV) was estimated by haematocrit centrifugation technique using capillary tubes, total leukocyte count (TLC; μl) was determined using Neubar's counting chamber method. Differential leukocyte count was performed manually under oil immersion of light microscope in blood smear stained by Wright Giemsa stain or/and Leishman stain.

2.5. Serum biochemical analysis

Glucose (mg/dl) estimation was done by glucose oxidase/peroxidise method. Total protein (g/dl) was estimated by biuret method. Albumin (mg/dl) was estimated by bromocresol green method. Globulin (mg/dl) was estimated by subtracting value of albumin from the estimated value of total protein.

2.6. Statistical analysis

The collected data of different experiments were subjected to statistical analysis using Software Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16.0). The recorded data were subjected to one way analysis of variance (Snedecor & Cochran 1989) to test the difference between various treatments. The significant means between different treatments were compared by Tukey’s b test.

3. Results

3.1. Haematological profile

The haematological profile of kids indicated that PCV, haemoglobin (Hb) and TLC was not affected due to colostrum feeding regime under different treatments during entire study period (Table 1). Neutrophil (%) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in C₁ group than C₃, whereas, in C₀ and C₂ it was in between the values of C₁ and C₃.

Table 1. Overall haematological profile of kids under different treatment groups.

Parameters	C0 (Control)	C1 (Natural colostrum)	C2 (Artificial colostrum)	C3 (Dam's serum)
PCV (%)	29.68 ± 0.67	31.63 ± 0.77	31.39 ± 0.98	30.77 ± 0.99
Hb (g/dl)	9.11 ± 0.16	9.17 ± 0.21	9.43 ± 0.22	8.97 ± 0.21
TLC (/µl)	14100 ± 1250.82	14700 ± 1172.93	13300 ± 895.54	13800 ± 1208.82
Lymphocyte (%)	51.90 ± 2.44^ab	45.51 ± 2.38^b	51.94 ± 1.93^ab	54.94 ± 2.31^a
Neutrophil (%)	47.32 ± 2.33^ab	54.20 ± 2.35^a	47.89 ± 1.85^ab	44.85 ± 2.27^b

Note: Means with different superscripts in a row differ significantly (P < 0.05).

3.2. Serum biochemistry

The data on serum biochemical profile for entire study period have been presented (Table 2). There were non-significant differences for glucose, total protein, albumin among different treatment groups during entire study period. The serum globulin was significantly higher in kids of C₀ and C₁ group than C₂ group. The globulin level in C₃ group was in between other three treatment groups.

Table 2. Serum biochemical profiles of kids under different treatments.

Parameters	C0 (Control)	C1 (Natural colostrum)	C2 (Artificial colostrum)	C3 (Dam's serum)
Glucose (mg/dl)	58.61 ± 1.78	58.49 ± 1.60	60.11 ± 1.63	62.70 ± 2.27
Total protein (g/dl)	6.12 ± 0.21	6.19 ± 0.20	5.73 ± 0.18	5.73 ± 0.18
Albumin (g/dl)	3.23 ± 0.10	3.25 ± 0.08	3.50 ± 0.18	3.18 ± 0.13
Globulin (g/dl)	2.89 ± 0.23^a	2.99 ± 0.20^a	2.24 ± 0.14^b	2.56 ± 0.17^ab

Note: Means with different superscripts in a row differ significantly (P < 0.05).

At different intervals of study period there was non-significant differences among different treatment groups for total protein, albumin and globulin, though values were within normal range. The serum glucose was also non-significant among different treatment groups during various intervals of study periods except during 6th day where it was significantly higher in C₃ group as compared to C₀, C₁ and C₂ groups, though values were within normal range.

4. Discussion

The values of PCV and Hb were within normal range as indicated by Jain (1986) and Kahn (2010). TLC was slightly higher than upper limit (13 × 10³/ul) shown by Jain (1986) and Kahn (2010). TLC was slightly higher may be due to earlier age of kids during which their body weight cop up with different types of foreign microbial invasions but all the kids were healthier during entire study period. Higher lymphocyte (%) in C₃ may be due to faster immunogenic response of dam serum injected to kids of this group. In other groups immunogenic response got initiated only after absorption of immunoglobulin through their GIT and this may be the reason of lower lymphocyte (%). Since there was inverse relationship between lymphocyte and neutrophil (%) as reported by Mann (2013), during different interval of study period no significant difference for lymphocyte and neutrophil has been observed. Values for glucose, total protein and albumin were within normal range than the reference values of Kaneko et al. (2008) and Kahn (2010).

Significantly higher globulin level during entire study period in C₁ group and significantly lower globulin in C₂ group may be due to constantly higher and lower IgG levels in C₁ and C₂, respectively. Furthermore, Castro-Alonso et al. (2008) and Rodríguez et al. (2009) hypothesized that colostrum absorption by neonatal ruminants is attributed to apoptotic enterocytes, which can increase the gut permeability of IgG in a non-selective manner by absorbing liquids from the intestinal lumen, thereby affecting the overall absorption of IgG. This may be the reason for higher serum globulin level in kids of C₁ group. In between range of globulin in C₃ group may be due to slightly better IgG level in C₃ than C₂ groups. The higher value of glucose just after colostrum feeding period in C₃ shows better adaptability of animals against dam serum without any effect on health status of animals. This also gave clue that dam serum can be suitable alternate for natural or artificial colostrum in its absence. As dam serum need to be injected once so due to easiness of applicability use of dam serum may be favoured against other immunological sources.

5. Conclusion

From the present study, it may be concluded that from immunoglobulin point of view artificial colostrum and dam's serum may prove to be as equal as natural colostrum without affecting the normal physiology of body.

Acknowledgements

The financial assistance received from Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University is thankfully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.