Plasma IGF-I and lactoferrin as biomarkers of post-weaning stress and the effect of feeding probiotic to low body weight calves for the improvement of growth performance in crossbred KF calves
2012
N, ANAND LAXMI | SEHGAL, J P | PRASAD, SHIV | S, NAMAGIRILAKSHMI | SHASHIKANT, DAMODER
Management practices as well as environmental and pathological stresses have an impact on growth performances and health status of calves. Lactoferrin is a glycoprotein and is a prominent component of host-defense against infection. Insulin like growth factor I (IGF-I) has been established as a biochemical indicator for different production traits. The present study was under taken to evaluate the role of IGF-I and lactoferrin as biomarkers for growth performances and health status in female crossbred KF calves and the effect of probiotic (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) supplementation on growth performance in post-weaned calves. Plasma concentration of these factors were correlated with growth performances in terms of body weight gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion efficiency, metabolic body weight gain in post-weaned calves. Calves exhibiting normal body weight (HBW) and the ones exhibiting lesser body weight (LBW) with respect to age (P<0.01) were divided into 2 groups. The body weight of LBW group was significantly less (P<0.001) during the pre-supplementation period (122 days). At 60d post-supplementation period, the significant difference between the body weight decreased (P<0.01). The circulatory level of IGF-I was significantly high (P<0.01) in HBW group when compared with LBW. During the post-supplementation period, the concentration of lactoferrin was not significantly different in both the groups and had decreased to the basal level (500–420 vs.150–250ng/ml) in comparison to pre-supplementation period, suggesting normal immune status and reduced stress/ inflammation. Supplementation of probiotic improved growth performance to a lesser extent in LBW group. IGF-I can act as a marker for growth performance in crossbred calves.
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