Level of nutrition and age at weaning: effects on humoral immunity in young calves

Abstract

Thirty-two calves were studied to determine the effects of level of nutrition (400 and 1000 g (air-dry matter) milk substitute per d) and age at weaning (5, 9 and 13 weeks) on humoral immune responses measured in serum and bronchoalveolar washings (BAW). All calves were immunized with Keyhole limpet haemocyanin (KLH) at 3 weeks of age, and with horse erythrocytes (HRBC) 1 d after weaning. Feeding the higher level of nutrition compared with the lower level decreased anti-HRBC titres and serum IgG2and IgA responses to KLH (P< 0·05). Weaning at 5 compared with 9 weeks of age decreased serum anti-HRBC responses (P< 0·05), but weaning age had no effect on anti-KLH responses (P> 0·5). Feeding the higher level of nutrition increased total protein (P< 005) and IgG2concentrations (P< 0·01) in BAW. The results showed that variation in husbandry conditions that is within conventional limits affects humoral immune responses in young, artificially-reared calves.