Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T02:28:11.662Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Supplementation of Merino ewes with vitamin E plus selenium increases α-tocopherol and selenium concentrations in plasma of the lamb but does not improve their immune function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2017

S. Sterndale ,
S. Broomfield ,
A. Currie ,
S. Hancock ,
G. A. Kearney ,
J. Lei ,
S. Liu ,
A. Lockwood ,
V. Scanlan  and
G. Smith
...Show all authors
S. Sterndale
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
S. Broomfield
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
A. Currie
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
S. Hancock
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
G. A. Kearney
Affiliation:
36 Payne Road, Hamilton, VIC 3300, Australia
J. Lei
Affiliation:
School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
S. Liu
Affiliation:
School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
A. Lockwood
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
V. Scanlan
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
G. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, South Perth, WA 6151, Australia
A. N. Thompson*
Affiliation:
School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, WA 6150, Australia
*
†E-mail: andrew.thompson@murdoch.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

Vitamin E and selenium have been reported to improve immune function across a range of species. Ewes lambing on poor-quality dry pasture in autumn in Western Australia are at risk of being deficient in vitamin E and selenium at lambing thus predisposing their lambs to deficiencies and increasing the risk of infection and disease. This study tested the hypotheses that (i) supplementation of autumn-lambing ewes with vitamin E plus selenium in late gestation will increase the concentrations of vitamin E and selenium in plasma in the ewe and lamb and (ii) that the increased concentrations of vitamin E and selenium in plasma in the lambs will improve their innate and adaptive immune responses and thus survival. Pregnant Merino ewes were divided into a control group (n=58) which received no supplementation or a group supplemented with vitamin E plus selenium (n=55). On days 111, 125 and 140 of pregnancy ewes in the vitamin E plus selenium group were given 4 g all-rac-α-tocopherol acetate orally. On day 111 the ewes were also given 60 mg of selenium as barium selenate by subcutaneous injection. The concentrations of α-tocopherol and selenium were measured in ewes and/or lambs from day 111 of pregnancy to 14 weeks of age±10 days (weaning). Immune function of the lamb was assessed by analysing the numbers and phagocytic capacities of monocytes and polymorphonuclear leucocytes and plasma IgG and anti-tetanus toxoid antibody concentrations between birth and 14 weeks of age±10 days. Maternal supplementation with vitamin E plus selenium increased the concentration of α-tocopherol in plasma (1.13 v. 0.67 mg/l; P<0.001) and selenium in whole blood (0.12 v. 0.07 mg/l; P<0.01) of the ewes at lambing compared with controls. Supplementation also increased the concentration of α-tocopherol (0.14 v. 0.08 mg/l; P<0.001) and selenium (0.08 v. 0.05 mg/l; P<0.01) in lambs at birth compared with controls. There was no significant effect of supplementation on immune function or survival in the lambs.

Keywords

supplementationvitamin EseleniumMerino ewesimmunity
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 12 , Issue 5 , May 2018 , pp. 998 - 1006
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, DB, Anderson, BH, Lynch, JJ and Munro, RK 1997. The effect of dexamethasone on immunological memory to tetanus toxoid in sheep. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 60, 89–95.Google Scholar
Allen, JG, Steele, P, Master, HG and D’Antuono, MF 1986. A study of nutritional myopathy in weaner sheep. Australian Veterinary Journal 63, 8–13.Google Scholar
Anugu, S, Petersson-Wolfe, CS, Combs, GF Jr and Petersson, KH 2013. Effect of vitamin E on the immune system of ewes during late pregnancy and lactation. Small Ruminant Research 111, 83–89.Google Scholar
Barceloux, D 1999. Selenium. Journal of Toxicology Clinical Toxicology 37, 145–172.Google Scholar
Behrendt, R, van Burgel, AJ, Bailey, A, Barber, P, Curnow, M, Gordon, DJ, Hocking Edwards, JE, Oldham, CM and Thompson, AN 2011. On-farm paddock scale comparisons across southern Australia confirm that increasing the nutrition of Merino ewes improves their production and the lifetime performance of their progeny. Animal Production Science 51, 805–812.Google Scholar
Brown, DJ, Jones, RM and Hinch, GN 2014. Genetic parameters for lamb autopsy traits. Animal Production Science 54, 736–744.Google Scholar
Capper, JL, Wilkinson, RG, Kasapidou, E, Pattinson, SE, Mackenzie, AM and Sinclair, LA 2005. The effect of dietary vitamin E and fatty acid supplementation of pregnant and lactating ewes on placental and mammary transfer of vitamin E to the lamb. British Journal of Nutrition 93, 549–557.Google Scholar
Curtis, K and Croker, K 2005. Wool desk report, September 2005, 17pp. Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia, Perth, Australia.Google Scholar
Daniels, JT, Hatfield, PG, Burgess, DE, Kott, RW and Bowman, JG 2000. Evaluation of ewe and lamb immune response when ewes were supplemented with vitamin E. Journal of Animal Science 78, 2731–2736.Google Scholar
Finch, JM and Turner, RJ 1996. Effect of selenium and vitamin E on the immune responses of domestic animals. Research in Veterinary Science 60, 97–106.Google Scholar
Fowler, DG and Wilkins, JF 1984. Diagnosis of pregnancy and number of foetuses in sheep by real-time ultrasonic imaging. I. Effects of number of foetuses, stage of gestation, operator and breed of ewe on accuracy of diagnosis. Livestock Production Science 11, 437–450.Google Scholar
Freer, M, Dove, H and Nolan, JV 2007. Nutrient requirements of domesticated ruminants. CSIRO Publishing, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.Google Scholar
Freer, M, Moore, AD and Donnelly, JR 1997. GRAZPLAN: decision support systems for Australian grazing enterprises-II. The animal biology model for feed intake, production and reproduction and the GrazFeed DSS. Agricultural Systems 54, 77–126.Google Scholar
Gelman, AL 2010. Some studies with an Agilent VGA-76 hydride generator for selenium determination. Retrieved on 9 April 2017 from http://www.agilent.com/cs/library/applications/AA044.pdf.Google Scholar
Gokce, E, Atakisi, O, Kirmizigul, AH and Unver, A 2014. Passive immunity in lambs: serum lactoferrin concentrations as a predictor of IgG concentration and its relation to health status from birth to 12 weeks of life. Small Ruminant Research 116, 219–228.Google Scholar
Hall, JA, Voracheck, WR, Stewart, WC, Gorman, ME, Dosher, WD, Pirelli, GJ and Bobe, G 2013. Selenium supplementation restores innate and humoral immune responses in footrot-affected sheep. Plos One 8, 1–19.Google Scholar
Hatfield, G, Daniels, JT, Kott, W, Burgess, DE and Evans, TJ 2000. Role of vitamin E in lamb survival and production: a review. Journal of Animal Science 77, 1–9.Google Scholar
Hinch, GN and Brien, FD 2014. Lamb survival in Australian flocks: a review. Animal Production Science 54, 656–666.Google Scholar
Kelly, R 1992. Lamb mortality and growth to weaning in commercial Merino flocks in Western Australia. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 43, 1399–1416.Google Scholar
Kott, RW, Ruttle, JL and Southward, GM 1983. Effects of vitamin E and selenium injections on reproduction and pre-weaning lamb survival in ewes consuming diets marginally deficient in selenium. Journal of Animal Science 57, 553–558.Google Scholar
Kumagai, H and White, C 1995. The effect of supplementary minerals, retinol and a-tocopherol on the vitamin status and productivity of pregnant Merino ewes. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 46, 1159–1174.Google Scholar
Liu, S, Lei, J, Hancock, S, Scanlan, V, Broomfield, S, Kearney, GA, Currie, A and Thompson, AN 2016. Lamb survival, glutathione redox state and immune function of neonates and lambs from periparturient Merino ewes supplemented with rumen protected methionine. Archives of Animal Nutrition 70, 389–401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, S, Masters, D, Ferguson, M and Thompson, A 2014. Vitamin E status and reproduction in sheep: potential implications for Australian sheep production. Animal Production Science: A Review 54, 694–714.Google Scholar
Lockwood, A, Currie, A, Hancock, S, Broomfield, S, Liu, S, Scanlan, V, Kearney, GA and Thompson, AN 2016. Supplementation of Merino ewes with cholecalciferol in late pregnancy improves the vitamin D status of ewes and lambs at birth but is not correlated with an improvement in immune function in lambs. Animal Production Science 56, 757–766.Google Scholar
McMurray, CH and Blanchflower, WJ 1979. Application of a high-performance liquid chromatographic fluorescence method for the rapid determination of alpha-tocopherol in the plasma of cattle and pigs and its comparison with direct fluorescence and high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection methods. Journal of Chromatography 178, 525–531.Google Scholar
McMurray, CH, Blanchflower, WJ and Rice, DA 1980. Influence of extraction techniques on determination of alpha-tocopherol in animal feedstuffs. Journal of the Association of Analytical Chemists 63, 1258–1261.Google Scholar
Meydani, SM and Beharka, AA 1996. Recent developments in vitamin E and immune response. Nutrition Reviews 56, S49–S58.Google Scholar
Njeru, CA, McDowell, LR, Wilkinson, NS, Linda, SB and Williams, SN 1994. Pre- and postpartum supplemental dl-α-tocopherol acetate effects on placental and mammary vitamin E transfer in Sheep. Journal of Animal Science 72, 1636–1640.Google Scholar
Oldham, CM, Thompson, AN, Ferguson, MB, Gordon, DJ, Kearney, GA and Paganoni, BL 2011. The birth weight and survival of Merino lambs can be predicted from the profile of liveweight change of their mothers during pregnancy. Animal Production Science 51, 776–783.Google Scholar
Paganoni, BL, Ferguson, MB, Kearney, G and Thompson, AN 2014. Increasing weight gain during pregnancy results in similar increases in lamb birth weights and weaning weights in Merino and non-Merino ewes regardless of sire type. Animal Production Science 54, 727–735.Google Scholar
Paynter, DI 1996. Diagnosis of mineral deficiencies. In Detection and treatment of mineral nutrition problems in grazing sheep (ed. DG Masters and CL White), pp. 45–56. Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Canberra, Australia.Google Scholar
Refshauge, G, Brien, FD, Hinch, GN and van de Ven, R 2015. Neonatal lamb mortality: factors associated with the death of Australian lambs. Animal Production Science 56, 726–735.Google Scholar
Rock, MJ, Kincaid, RL and Carstens, GE 2001. Effects of prenatal source and level of dietary selenium on passive immunity and thermometabolism of newborn lambs. Small Ruminant Research 40, 129–138.Google Scholar
Rooke, JA, Robinson, JJ and Arthur, JR 2004. Effects of vitamin E and selenium on the performance and immune status of ewes and lambs. The Journal of Agricultural Science 142, 253–262.Google Scholar
Rosales Nieto, CA, Ferguson, MB, Macleay, CA, Briegel, JR, Martin, GB and Thompson, AN 2013. Selection for superior growth advances the onset of puberty and increases reproductive performance in ewe lambs. Animal 7, 990–997.Google Scholar
Stewart, WC, Bobe, G, Voracheck, WR, Pirelli, GJ, Mosher, WD, Nichols, T, Van Saun, RJ, Forsberg, NE and Hall, JA 2012. Organic and inorganic selenium: II. Transfer efficiency from ewes to lambs. Journal of Animal Science 90, 577–584.Google Scholar
Stewart, WC, Bobe, G, Voracheck, WR, Stang, BV, Pirelli, GJ, Mosher, WD and Hall, JA 2013. Organic and inorganic selenium: IV Passive transfer of immunoglobulin from ewe to lamb. Journal of Animal Science 91, 1791–1800.Google Scholar
Thomas, VM, Roader, B, Bohn, G, Kott, RW and Evans, T 1995. The influence of late pregnancy feeding with Vitamin E on lamb mortality and ewe productivity. Proceedings of the Western Section American Society of Animal Science 46, 91–94.Google Scholar
White, CL and Rewell, L 2007. Vitamin E and selenium status of sheep during autumn in Western Australia and its relationship to the incidence of apparent white muscle disease. Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture 47, 535–543.Google Scholar
Young, JM, Trompf, J and Thompson, AN 2014. The critical control points for increasing reproductive performance can be used to inform research priorities. Animal Production Science 54, 645–655.Google Scholar