Features of the colostral immunity formation in the newborn calves obtained from the cows with extragenital pathology

The objective of our research was to study the features of the colostral immunity formation in the newborns obtained from the cows with different clinical conditions during gestation. The object of the study was Red-Motley cows (n=28) in the third trimester of gestation and the newborn calves obtained from them. Group I – clinically healthy (control, n=8), group II – animals with hepatodystrophy (n=6), group III – animals with a combined course of hepatodystrophy and anemia (n=14). It has been found that in the cows with liver pathology and/or anemia, the colostrum of the first milk yield contains less protein and immunoglobulins by 24.1-25.4% and 11.9-14.2% (P ˂ 0.05), respectively. However, it was noted that in the calves obtained from the cows of group II, the blood serum content of total immunoglobulins after colostrum feeding did not differ from the values of the control group, while in the calves obtained from the cows of group III, the same indicator was lower by 43.0% (P ˂ 0.05). To clarify the reasons for this phenomenon, the Spearman correlation analysis was carried out, which showed that the level of total immunoglobulins in colostrum did not have a significant effect on their amount in the blood serum of calves after colostrum feeding (Rs = 0.40, P ˃ 0.05). In this case, the presence of anemia in calves was of decisive importance (Rs = 0.77, P ˂ 0.05). Thus, the formation of colostral immunity in calves depends not only on the quality of colostrum, but also on the clinical status of the newborn and in particular the presence of a hypoxic and acedotic condition.