In winter fed organic raised sheep inadequate plasma vitamin E levels is common and therefore

supplementation is recommended. The objective of the present work was to test the supplementation

of natural vitamin E and seaweed meal on the immune status of ewes and their offspring.

Forty Norwegian White Sheep ewes were randomly allocated to three supplementation treatments:

natural vitamin E, synthetic vitamin E, seaweed meal, and control. The feeding experiment lasted

the entire indoor feeding period. Ewes and newborn lambs were vaccinated against different environmental

microorganisms and pathogens. Different immunological parameters were measured.

Supplementing the ewes with natural vitamin E had positive effect on immunity against Mycobacterium

bovis in lambs. Seaweed, on the other hand, had negative effect on the passive transfer of maternal

antibodies in lambs the first week after birth. The adaptive immunity was not affected by

seaweed supplementation

Aanesen, Lise

Govasmark, Espen

Larsen, Hans J.S.

Lind, Vibeke

Novoa-Garrido, Margarita

Steinshamn, Håvard

English

Organic Eprints

RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012): Tackling the Future Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry.  Proceedings of the 2nd OAHC, Hamburg/Trenthorst, Germany, Sep 12-14, 2012     207 Immunological effects of feeding different sources of vitamin E  and seaweed in a sheep herd during the winter season   MARGARITA NOVOA-GARRIDO1, LISE AANENSEN1,  VIBEKE LIND1, HANS JØRGEN S. LARSEN2, SØREN K. JENSEN3,  ESPEN GOVASMARK1 AND HÅVARD STEINSHAMN1  1 Bioforsk – Norwegian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research,  Norway, www.bioforsk.no, margarita.novoa-garrido@bioforsk.no,  lise.aanensen@bioforsk.no, vibeke.lind@bioforsk.no,  espen.govasmark@bioforsk.no, havard.steinshamn@bioforsk.no 2Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Norway, http://www.veths.no, HansJoergen.Larsen@nvh.no 3Aarhus University, Research Center Foulum, Denmark, www.agrsci.org/ny_navigation/om_djf/centre/forskningscenter_foulum/, SorenKrogh.Jensen@agrsci.dk Abstract In winter fed organic raised sheep inadequate plasma vitamin E levels is common and therefore supplementation is recommended. The objective of the present work was to test the supplementation of natural vitamin E and seaweed meal on the immune status of ewes and their offspring. Forty Norwegian White Sheep ewes were randomly allocated to three supplementation treatments: natural vitamin E, synthetic vitamin E, seaweed meal, and control. The feeding experiment lasted the entire indoor feeding period. Ewes and newborn lambs were vaccinated against different envi-ronmental microorganisms and pathogens. Different immunological parameters were measured.  Supplementing the ewes with natural vitamin E had positive effect on immunity against Mycobacte-rium bovis in lambs. Seaweed, on the other hand, had negative effect on the passive transfer of ma-ternal antibodies in lambs the first week after birth. The adaptive immunity was not affected by seaweed supplementation. Key  words:  Ascophyllum  nodosum,  macroalgae,  antioxidant,  immunological  parameters,  α-tocopherol, nutrient element  Introduction Ruminants fed on preserved forages are dependent of vitamin E and antioxidant supplementation in order to optimize milk and meat quality, immune function, reproduction traits and animal health. There  is  an  aim  in  organic  production  to  avoid  synthetic  vitamins,  and  therefore  a  need  for knowledge on potential natural vitamin and antioxidant sources. The supplementation of seaweed meal is especially interesting, since seaweed is an abundant and easy accessible raw material on the coastline and has traditionally been used as a winter supplement to sheep in Norway.  The hypothesis was that supplementation with natural vitamin sources improves the immunologic status in ewes and their offspring. A feeding trial was performed to study the effects of supplement-ing ewes‘ diets with seaweed meal, and natural or synthetic vitamin E on different immunological parameters.  Material and methodology  Forty Norwegian White breed ewes were divided into four treatments. Within each treatment the ewes received an iso-energetic diet that included a daily ration of concentrate supplemented with ! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723 Download: www.vti.bund.de/en/startseite/vti-publications/landbauforschung-special-issues.html    208 seaweed meal (SW), natural vitamin E (natE), synthetic vitamin E (syntE) or without any supple-mentation (C). In the SW concentrate the seaweed meal added up to 4.4 % of the total DM intake. The trial lasted the entire eight month indoor feeding period.   The concentrates were analysed for α-tocopherol (Jensen and Nielsen, 1996) and the nutrient ele-ments Na, Se, As and I. Production of specific antibodies and cell mediated immunity following immunization, production of antibodies against environmental microbes and the immunoglobulin concentration in the mothers and the lambs were registered, as well as the mitogen and antigen induced lymphocyte proliferation (Table 1). Table 1: Overview of immunological parameters measured in the feed trial Ewes  Lambs Specific antibodies after vaccination (Tetanus toxoid, Mannheimia haemolytica, equine herpes- and influenza virus) Specific antibodies after vaccination  (Diphtheria toxoid) Antibodies against environmental bacteria  (M. haemolytica) Antibodies against environmental bacteria  (M. haemolytica) Immunoglobulin concentration in blood and colostrum (IgG, IgM) Cell mediated immunity after vaccination with Mycobac-terium bovis (IFNγ)   Transfer of maternal immunity (equine herpes- and in-fluenza virus, tetanus toxoid, IgG, IgM)   Production of immunoglobulin (IgG, IgM)   Mitogen and antigen induced lymphocyte proliferation Results The ewes consuming the SW and C concentrates had lowest daily intake of α-tocopherol and SW highest intake of As and I (Table 2). Table 2: Weighted mean daily intake of α-tocopherol, Na, Se, As and I   SW  syntE  natE  C α-tocopherol (mg/day)  28  138  72  21 Na (g/day)  44  42  40  38 Se (mg/day)  0.55  0.45  0.43  0.38 As (mg/day)  3.30  0.57  0.56  0.56 I (mg/day)  51.3  2.74  2.52  2.25  The serum IgG concentration in the ewes in the SW group was 37 mg/ml. This concentration was significantly lower (P<0.05) than in the ewes on other treatments, which had serum IgG concentra-tions ranging from 43 mg/ml to 57 mg/ml. There was no effect of dietary treatment for the other immunological parameters measured in the ewes. The lambs in the natE feeding group showed significantly stronger cell mediated immunity to M. bovis following immunization than the other treatments (Table 3). The transfer of maternal immunity in one week old lambs in the SW group was severely impaired both regarding serum IgG and IgM concentrations, and specific maternal antibodies against tetanus toxoid, equine herpes- and influenza virus (EIV) and M. haemolytica (MH) (Table 4). There was no difference between the feeding groups in the antibody levels after vaccination against Diphtheria toxoid (data not shown).  RAHMANN G & GODINHO D (Ed.) (2012): Tackling the Future Challenges of Organic Animal Husbandry.  Proceedings of the 2nd OAHC, Hamburg/Trenthorst, Germany, Sep 12-14, 2012     209 Table 3:      Mean values of IFNγ (ng/ml) four weeks after vaccination with M. bovis   SW  syntE  natE  C  P IFNγ  2.4  5.1  8.0  2.6  * * significant at P<0.05  Table 4:   Levels of maternal immunological parameters transferred to the offspring during the first weeks after lambing in the different feeding groups   SW  syntE  natE  C  P Age (week)  1  4  6  1  4  6  1  4  6  1  4  6   IgG (mg/ml)  7  28  32  49  33  23  57  29  29  52  31  29  ** IgM(mg/ml)  0.4  1.3  1.5  2.0  1.1  1.3  1.8  1.1  1.6  2.3  1.6  1.7  ** Tetanus (titre log2)  6.9  5.6  4.8  10.5  9.9  8.5  11.7  9.8  9.1  11.6  10.2  9.7  ** EIV  (titre log2)  3.5  3.2  2.7  5.7  4.1  3.9  6.0  4.0  3.3  5.9  3.9  3.8  ** MH (titre log2)  4.4  4.3  5.5  8.3  6.1  6.4  7.8  6.1  6.2  7.8  6.2  6.3  ** ** significant at P<0.01 Discussion The cell mediated response to M. bovis suggests that supplementation with high levels of natural vitamin E could be an effective support to the immune mechanisms involved in the disease re-sistance to virus infections, fungal infections, cancer and infections with intracellular bacteria such as Mycobacterium sp. The consumption of seaweed meal by the ewes at the concentration and the duration applied in this study left the newborn lambs unprotected against infection during their first week of life. However, the adaptive immunity was not affected by the seaweed meal intake. These results indicate that whole seaweed meal has one or more components that interfere with the intestinal uptake of the maternal immunity in the lambs. As a product of marine origin, the seaweed meal has a high iodine (I) concentration. Low levels of immunoglobulin G has been observed in lambs where their mothers have been fed high amounts of minerals, including iodine, the last week of gestation (Boland et al 2006). This is an aspect to take into consideration when formulating diets including whole seaweed products. Our immunological results indicate that on milligram basis half the amount of natural vitamin E equalize the effect of synthetic vitamin E. Seaweeds are definitely an interesting organic renewable resource that can be can exploited in agriculture due to their properties (Allen et al., 2001; Kuda et al., 2005; Devi et al., 2008). However, seaweeds have a very complex composition, and it is not yet understood how the different components influence the animal physiology. Fractionation of sea-weeds and studies of the separate fractions should be the future approach in order to find new natu-ral supplements to be used in organic farming. Seaweed should however not be fed to ewes in late gestation and early lactation as it may suppress maternal transfer of antibodies.   This study has been funded by a grant from the Foundation for Research Levy on Agricultural Products, the Agricultural Agreement Research Fund and the Research Council of Norway, project number 190301. Suggestions to tackle the future challenges of organic animal husbandry There is a need to provide mineral supplements based on organically bound selenium and vitamin E, and knowledge of their bioavailability and distribution in the animal body to improve the ani-! Agriculture and Forestry Research, Special Issue No 362 (Braunschweig, 2012) ISSN 0376-0723 Download: www.vti.bund.de/en/startseite/vti-publications/landbauforschung-special-issues.html    210 mals' antioxidant defence system in organic farming. However, the current study showed that good animal health may be achieved without supplementation. References  Allen, V.G., Potin, P., Saker, K.E., Fontenot, J.P., Bagley, C.P., Ivy, R.L., Evans, R.R., Schmidt, R.E., Fike, J.H., Zhang, X., Ayad, J.Y., Brown, C.P., Miller, M.F., Montgomery, J.L., Mahan, J., Wester, D.B., Melton, C., 2001. Tasco: Influence of a brown seaweed on antioxidants in forages and livestock - A review. Journal of Animal Science 79  21-31. Boland  TM,  Callan  JJ,  Brophy  PO,  Quinn  PJ  &  Crosby  TF  (2006):  Lamb  serum  vitamin  E  and immunoglobulin G concentrations in resposne to various maternal mineral and iodine supplemenation regimes. Animal Science, 82, 319-325 Devi, K.P., Suganthy, N., Kesika, P., Pandian, S.K., 2008. Bioprotective properties of seaweeds: in vitro evaluation of antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity against food borne bacteria in relation to polyphenolic content. BMC complementary and alternative medicine 8, 38. Jensen,  S.K.,  Nielsen,  K.N.,  1996.  Tocopherols,  retinol,  beta-carotene  and  fatty  acids  in  fat  globule membrane and fat globule core in cows' milk. Journal of Dairy Research 63, 565-574. Kuda, T., Tsunekawa, M., Goto, H., Araki, Y., 2005. Antioxidant properties of four edible algae harvested in the Noto Peninsula, Japan. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis 18, 625-633.      

Antioxidant properties of four edible algae harvested in the Noto Peninsula,

Lamb serum vitamin E and immunoglobulin G concentrations in resposne to various maternal mineral and iodine supplemenation regimes.

Tasco: Influence of a brown seaweed on antioxidants in forages and livestock - A review.

Tocopherols, retinol, beta-carotene and fatty acids in fat globule membrane and fat globule core in cows' milk.

Immunological effects of feeding different sources of vitamin E and seaweed in a sheep herd during the winter season

Immunological effects of feeding different sources of vitamin E and seaweed in a sheep herd during the winter season

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