Key Laboratory of Animal Disease and Human Health of Sichuan Province, College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, 211 Huimin Road, Wenjiang District, Chengdu, 611130, Sichuan, China.
Sichuan Hannover Biological Technology Co. Ltd, Deyang, 618000, Sichuan, China.
Microbiome. 2024 Mar 8;12(1):48. doi: 10.1186/s40168-023-01742-4.
Long-distance transportation, a frequent practice in the cattle industry, stresses calves and results in morbidity, mortality, and growth suppression, leading to welfare concerns and economic losses. Alkaline mineral water (AMW) is an electrolyte additive containing multiple mineral elements and shows stress-mitigating effects on humans and bovines.
Here, we monitored the respiratory health status and growth performance of 60 Simmental calves subjected to 30 hours of road transportation using a clinical scoring system. Within the three days of commingling before the transportation and 30 days after the transportation, calves in the AMW group (n = 30) were supplied with AMW, while calves in the Control group (n = 29) were not. On three specific days, namely the day before transportation (day -3), the 30 day (day 30), and the 60 day (day 60) after transportation, sets of venous blood, serum, and nasopharyngeal swab samples were collected from 20 calves (10 from each group) for routine blood testing, whole blood transcriptomic sequencing, serology detection, serum untargeted metabolic sequencing, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The field data showed that calves in the AMW group displayed lower rectal temperatures (38.967 ℃ vs. 39.022 ℃; p = 0.004), respiratory scores (0.079 vs. 0.144; p < 0.001), appetite scores (0.024 vs. 0.055; p < 0.001), ocular and ear scores (0.185 vs. 0.338; p < 0.001), nasal discharge scores (0.143 vs. 0.241; p < 0.001), and higher body weight gains (30.870 kg vs. 7.552 kg; p < 0.001). The outcomes of laboratory and high throughput sequencing data revealed that the calves in the AMW group demonstrated higher cellular and humoral immunities, antioxidant capacities, lower inflammatory levels, and intestinal absorption and lipogenesis on days -3 and 60. The nasopharynx 16S rRNA gene microbiome analysis revealed the different composition and structure of the nasopharyngeal microflora in the two groups of calves on day 30. Joint analysis of multi-omics revealed that on days -3 and 30, bile secretion was a shared pathway enriched by differentially expressed genes and metabolites, and there were strong correlations between the differentially expressed metabolites and the main genera in the nasopharynx.
These results suggest that AMW supplementation enhances peripheral immunity, nutrition absorption, and metabolic processes, subsequently affecting the nasopharyngeal microbiota and improving the respiratory health and growth performance of transported calves. This investigation provided a practical approach to mitigate transportation stress and explored its underlying mechanisms, which are beneficial for the development of the livestock industry. Video Abstract.
长途运输是牛业中的常见做法，会给牛只带来压力，导致发病率、死亡率和生长抑制，从而引发福利问题和经济损失。碱性矿泉水（AMW）是一种含有多种矿物质元素的电解质添加剂，对人类和牛具有减轻压力的作用。
在这里，我们使用临床评分系统监测了 60 头西门塔尔小牛在 30 小时的道路运输过程中的呼吸健康状况和生长性能。在运输前的三天（第-3 天）和运输后的 30 天（第 30 天）和 60 天（第 60 天）期间，AMW 组（n=30）的小牛接受 AMW 供应，而对照组（n=29）的小牛未接受 AMW 供应。在三个特定的日子，即运输前一天（第-3 天）、30 天（第 30 天）和 60 天（第 60 天），从每组的 20 头小牛（每头小牛 10 头）中采集了静脉血、血清和鼻咽拭子样本，用于常规血液检测、全血转录组测序、血清学检测、血清靶向代谢组学测序和 16S rRNA 基因测序。现场数据显示，AMW 组的小牛直肠温度较低（38.967℃比 39.022℃；p=0.004），呼吸评分（0.079 比 0.144；p<0.001）、食欲评分（0.024 比 0.055；p<0.001）、眼部和耳部评分（0.185 比 0.338；p<0.001）、鼻分泌物评分（0.143 比 0.241；p<0.001）和体重增加更高（30.870 千克比 7.552 千克；p<0.001）。实验室和高通量测序数据的结果表明，在第-3 天和第 60 天，AMW 组的小牛表现出更高的细胞和体液免疫、抗氧化能力、较低的炎症水平以及肠道吸收和脂肪生成能力。鼻咽 16S rRNA 基因微生物组分析表明，在第 30 天，两组小牛的鼻咽微生物群组成和结构存在差异。多组学联合分析表明，在第-3 天和第 30 天，胆汁分泌是差异表达基因和代谢物富集的共同途径，差异表达代谢物与鼻咽的主要属之间存在强烈的相关性。
这些结果表明，AMW 补充剂增强了外周免疫、营养吸收和代谢过程，进而影响鼻咽微生物群，改善了运输小牛的呼吸健康和生长性能。本研究为减轻运输应激提供了一种实用方法，并探讨了其潜在机制，这有利于畜牧业的发展。
