Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 8.2. Contents of lipid, protein, lactose, dry matter and energy in colostrum, transient milk and mature
milk (Theil
et al.,
2014b).
Colostrum
Transient milk
Mature milk
Early
mid
late
Time postpartum
0 h
12 h
24 h
36 h
3 d
17 d
SEM
Chemical composition
2
(g/100 g)
Lipid
5.1
c
5.3
c
6.9
bc
9.1
a
9.8
a
8.2
b
0.5
17.7
a
12.2
b
8.6
c
7.3
cd
6.1
d
4.7
e
Protein
0.5
3.5
d
4.0
c
4.4
bc
4.6
b
4.8
ab
5.1
a
Lactose
0.1
27.3
a
22.4
b
20.6
b
21.4
b
21.2
b
18.9
c
Dry matter
0.6
Energy (kJ/100 g)
1
260
d
276
d
346
c
435
ab
468
a
409
b
21
1
Calculated energy derived from lactose and fat contents (energy in protein not included because the roles of proteins differ in colostrum
(immunity) and milk (growth) and hence are not normally being oxidised to a great extent.
2
Values in rows without a common superscript differ (
P
<0.05).
absence of colostrum intake (Theil
et al.
, 2011). Colostrum is thus essential for early post-
natal survival by providing energy for thermoregulation. Colostrum also provides the
piglet with passive immunity. At birth, the piglet is devoid of immunoglobulins and its
immune system needs at least 3 or 4 weeks, i.e. from birth until weaning, to fully develop
(Rooke and Bland, 2002). Maternal IgG present in colostrum provides systemic immunity
while maternal IgA present in both colostrum and milk protects the intestinal mucosa
from pathogens, thereby preventing neonatal diarrhoea. Colostrum also contains immune
cells and immunomodulatory factors that play a role in the response to pathogens and
that may help maturation of the piglet's own immune system (Salmon
et al.
, 2009). Last
but not least, colostrum also assists the newborn piglets in their physiological adaptation
after birth by supplying digestive enzymes and by stimulating energy metabolism and
thermoregulatory mechanisms (Herpin
et al.
, 2005). In addition, colostrum is rich in
growth factors which are important mainly for stimulating growth and development of
the gastrointestinal tract of newborn piglets (Xu
et al.
, 2002).
8.3.2
Ways of measuring colostrum yield
It is challenging to quantify the colostrum yield of sows, because no direct method,
such as the weigh-suckle-weigh method (see ways of measuring milk yield) is available.
Currently, most studies on colostrum yield of sows have quantified the intake of individual
piglets using the following prediction equation developed by Devillers
et al.
(2004):
CI = -217.4 + 0.217 t + 1,861,019 BW24/t + BWB (54.80 - 1,861,019/t) (0.9985 - 3.7×10
-4
t
FS
+ 6.1×10
-7
t
FS
2
)
