Heat-treated colostrum feeding promotes beneficial bacteria colonization in the small intestine of neonatal calves

The present study investigated the effect of heat-treated colostrum feeding on the bacterial colonization in calf small intestine of neonatal calves within the first 12 h of life. Newborn Holstein bull calves (n = 32) were assigned to 3 treatment groups and fed with either fresh colostrum (FC, n = 12) or heat-treated (60°C, 60 min) colostrum (HC, n = 12) soon after birth, whereas the control (NC, n = 8) group did not receive colostrum or water. Small intestinal tissues and contents were collected from proximal jejunum, distal jejunum, and ileum at 6 and 12 h after birth, following euthanasia. Quantitative real time-PCR was used to explore the colonization of total bacteria, Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Escherichia coli. The feeding of colostrum soon after birth increased the colonization of total bacteria in calf gut within the first 12 h compared with NC. In contrast, the prevalence of Lactobacillus was lower in HC and FC compared to NC. Remarkable changes in the prevalence of small intestinal tissue-attached Bifidobacterium were observed with the feeding of HC, but not that in small intestinal contents. The prevalence of Bifidobacterium was 3.2 and 5.2 fold higher in HC than FC and NC, respectively, at 6 h. Although the feeding of FC did not enhance the prevalence of tissue-attached Bifidobacterium at 6 h compared with NC, it displayed a gradual increase over the time that was higher than NC, but similar to that of HC at 12 h. Moreover, the colonization of E. coli was drastically reduced in HC calves compared with FC and NC. Thus, the present study suggests that the feeding of HC enhances the colonization of Bifidobacterium but lessens E. coli in the calf small intestine immediately postpartum compared with that of FC and NC. The increased colonization of beneficial bacteria along with the decreased colonization of potential pathogens in calf gut may also diminish the neonatal calf diarrhea when calves are fed heat-treated colostrum soon after birth.