The aim of this study was to investigate the BW and immune status of lambs reared under natural conditions or under artificial conditions fed two different colostrum amounts. In this study, 60 lambs were randomly divided into groups according to treatment. Twenty lambs remained with their dams (natural rearing (NR) group). Forty lambs were removed from their dams at birth. Lambs were bottle-fed with a pool of sheep colostrum, receiving either 4 g of IgG/kg of BW at birth (C4 group) or 8 g of IgG/kg of BW at birth (C8 group). The total colostrum amount was equally divided into three meals at 2, 14 and 24 h after birth. After this period, lambs were bottle-fed a commercial milk replacer. Blood plasma sample analysis and BW recordings were carried out before feeding at birth and then at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 20 days after birth. Another blood sample analysis and BW recording was carried out when animals reached 10 kg of BW. During weaning (30 days), sampling was carried out every 5 days. Blood plasma was used to determine the concentrations of IgG and IgM and the complement system activity -total and alternative pathways. The NR group showed greater BW than the C4 and C8 groups during milk feeding period, whereas the C4 and C8 groups had greater BW than the NR group at the end of weaning period. The C8 and NR groups had greater plasma IgG and IgM concentrations than the C4 group during milk feeding period. In addition, C4 and C8 groups showed similar IgG concentrations and greater IgM concentrations than the NR group at the end of the weaning period. Complement system activity was greater in the NR group than in the C4 and C8 groups during the first 3 days after birth. In conclusion, lambs fed amounts of colostrum equivalent to 8 g of IgG/kg of BW showed similar immune variables compared to lambs reared under natural conditions, obtaining a greater BW at the end of the weaning period. Nevertheless, this study shows that not only the colostrum amount but also the management during the milk feeding and weaning period, such as stress produced by dam separation, milk quality and suckling frequency, can affect the final immune status of lambs.Keywords: immune, lamb, colostrum, weaning, artificial rearing ImplicationsColostrum plays a fundamental role in the immunization of newborn ruminants. Artificial rearing is a common method used in dairy farms, increasing the amount of milk for processing. The aim of this study was to feed newborn lambs colostrum with two different IgG concentrations and to compare these animals to natural dam fed lambs. This study showed that administration of 8 g of immunoglobulin g/kg BW at birth, equally divided into three colostrum meals (2, 14 and 26 h), achieved higher circulating immunoglobulin G concentration when compared to the natural rearing treatment, although both artificial rearing groups decreased BW after birth. IntroductionThe relationship between colostrum and the survival of newborn ruminants has been long characterized (Argüello et al., 2004;Castro et al., 2011;Abdou et al., 2014)...
Within the outermost regions of Europe, meat is obtained from two sources: importation and local production. Transportation time is the critical factor that affects imported meat (IM) and carcass quality, whereas local meat (LM) is frequently obtained from regional breeds. The aim of this study, therefore, was to evaluate sensorial differences between IM and LM using the Canary Islands as an example of an outermost region of Europe. Two kinds of sensory analyses were performed: a triangular test with 31 untrained consumers and a descriptive test with a trained 12-member tasting panel. In the triangular test 46.7% of consumers were able to discriminate between the two kinds of meat, and there was higher preference for LM than IM (63.6% vs. 36.4%, respectively). Several sensorial differences between LM and IM were found in aspects such as lamb smell or hardness by trained panel. For this reason this study can be taken as a model to promote LM breeds in order to make them more competitive in markets. However, further studies are needed to analyse carcass and meat quality in order to standardise LM.
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