Volume: 3, 2024
3rd International PhD Student’s Conference at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland:
ENVIRONMENT – PLANT – ANIMAL – PRODUCT
Abstract number: A009
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24326/ICDSUPL3.A009
Published online: 24 April 2024
ICDSUPL, 3, A009 (2024)
Probiotics as non-specific immunoprophylaxis in cows
Katarzyna Głodkowska1*, Piotr Brodzki1
1 Department and Clinic of Animal Reproduction, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Głęboka 30, 20-612 Lublin, Poland
* Corresponding author: katarzyna.glodkowska@up.lublin.pl
Abstract
Cows are exposed to many environmental and internal factors that impair their immune system. This is particularly important for calves born with an antigen-naive immune system and in the perinatal period, period when transient immunosuppression occurs. Recently, using probiotics to help improve cow performance and health has received more and more attention. Probiotic preparations used for supplementation in humans and animals are pure cultures of one or more strains of microorganisms, originating mainly from their digestive tracts. The group of probiotic microorganisms consists mainly of bacteria, including Bifidobacterium spp., Lactobacillus spp., Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus subtilis, as well as the yeasts Candida pintolopesii, Saccharomyces boulardi, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and filamentous fungi: including: Aspergillus oryzae. Probiotics can be used in various forms as dietary supplements and they’re usually well tolerated by animals. In ruminants, probiotics are in use in both dairy cows and beef cattle. Their benefits include improved milk yield and quality, stabilization of the microbial balance in the rumen, and better utilization of feed ingredients. They are perceived as additives that do not negatively interfere with the natural environment, but actually protect it by limiting the excretion of nitrogen compounds by animals and are safe for the consumer’s health. The mechanism of action of probiotics in the digestive tract of dairy cows mainly concerns competition for adhesion to the intestinal epithelium and for nutrients, production of bacteriostatic substances that inhibit the development of pathogens and stimulation of the body’s immunity. The exact mechanism of the immunomodulatory effect of probiotics is unknown. In humans and mice, complexes of whole probiotic bacteria cells or their fragments with gastrointestinal lymphoid tissue (GALT) cells have been shown to have a modulatory effect on the functions of T and B lymphocytes, inducing an immune response to antigens. Probiotics also stimulate immunocompetent cells to produce cytokines responsible for enhancing, suppressing, or regulating the general and local immune response. The effect of administering probiotics on the function of the immune system in dairy cows has not yet been fully understood, but most available studies confirm that they stimulate the immune system in cows.
Keywords: cows, probiotics, immunoprophylaxis
How to cite
K. Głodkowska, P. Brodzki, 2024. Probiotics as non-specific immunoprophylaxis in cows. In: 3rd International PhD Student’s Conference at the University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Poland: Environment – Plant – Animal – Product. https://doi.org/10.24326/ICDSUPL3.A009