Bovine colostrum whey: Postpartum changes of particle size distribution and immunoglobulin G concentration at different filtration pore sizes

Abstract

Bovine colostrum, as vital as it is for calves, is also a valuable source of functional components with rich health benefits for humans. Bovine colostrum whey consists of a large number of bioactive proteins and peptides. The most abundant of these is IgG. Particle size distribution (PSD) is an important feature of many of the processes in the dairy food industries. Despite this, scientific literature on PSD of colostrum whey is scarce. The goal of this research was to describe bovine colostrum whey PSD with an emphasis on postpartum milking time, filtration (pore size 450, 100, and 20 nm), IgG concentration, and lactation number. For this purpose, 4 postpartum milking colostrum samples were sequentially milked from 46 Holstein cows at 12 ± 1 h intervals. Colostrum whey was prepared by renneting and diluted (1:200) for PSD analyses by a Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZS (Malvern Instruments Ltd., Malvern, UK). Immunoglobulin G concentration of these diluted colostrum whey samples were analyzed by an Octet K2 (Molecular Devices LLC, San Jose, CA) system. Linear mixed model analysis revealed significant effects of filter pore size, postpartum milking, and lactation on colostrum whey IgG concentrations. The percentage of particles in the size interval 5 to 15 nm (the hydrodynamic diameter of IgG is around 10 nm) had an intermediate positive correlation (r = 0.50) with IgG concentration. Furthermore, we showed that PSD was associated with IgG concentration, postpartum milking time, and lactation number. The PSD measurement results showed the mean hydrodynamic diameter of 100 nm pore size filtered colostrum whey to be around 10 nm. This, with the IgG concentration results, suggests that even though the size of IgG is around 10 nm, a 100 nm pore size is adequate for membrane-involved IgG separations. In terms of energy efficiency of the filtration process, the use of a larger filter pore size can make a remarkable difference, for example, in pressurizing and cooling costs. Our work contributes to the development of sustainable and widely available colostrum-derived food and feed supplements.

Bovine colostrum: Postpartum changes in fat globule size distribution and fatty acid profile

“…As a result, large-scale milk production inevitably leads to the production of considerable amounts (about 1% of annual milk production) of colostrum and transition milk. Colostrum composition differs significantly from milk (Playford and Weiser, 2021), containing higher levels of proteins (especially immunoglobulins; Kehoe et al, 2007;Sats et al, 2020), vitamins, minerals (Kehoe et al, 2007;Duplessis et al, 2015), antioxidants (Przybylska et al, 2007), and PUFA (Contarini et al, 2014). Due to the thermal sensitivity of proteins and FA profile-related cream separation issues (e.g., fat melting point), the utilization of colostrum using milk valorization technologies is complicated.…”

“…For a more complete understanding about colostrum component size distribution, studies need to focus simultaneously on multiple parameters (Sats et al, 2020). In this study, the aim was to describe the bovine colostrum FA profile and CFG size.…”

Bovine Colostrum for Human Consumption—Improving Microbial Quality and Maintaining Bioactive Characteristics through Processing

“…It has also been used as nutraceutical. Whey formulations with high concentrations of bioactive proteins and peptides are accumulating immense interest among human health specialists [108]. The powder can also be marketed as a dietary supplement in the form of sachets, capsules, or chewable tablets [7].…”

Bovine Colostrum for Human Consumption - Improving Microbial Quality and Maintaining Bioactive Characteristics through Processing

“…It has also been used as nutraceutical. Whey formulations with high concentrations of bioactive proteins and peptides are accumulating immense interest among human health specialists [108]. The powder can also be marketed as dietary supplement in form of sachets, capsules or chewable tablets [7].…”