A new passive immune strategy based on IgY antibodies as a key element to control neonatal calf diarrhea in dairy farms

Table 1 Diarrhea and group A bovine rotavirus infection onset and duration

Treatment Group	% diarrhea affected calves	Diarrhea onset (days of life)	Diarrhea duration (days)	% RVA affected calves	RVA shedding onset (days of life)	RVA shedding duration (days)
G1= IgY DNT	86% (13/15)	9.26	1.53 ^a	47% (7/15)	11.71^c	1.00 ^e
G2 = no Ab treatment	100% (15/15)	8.29	4.64 ^b	47% (7/15)	7.43 ^d	5.86 ^f

Diarrhea was assessed daily in all calves (fecal score ≥ 2). A calf showing at least one episode of fecal score ≥ 2 was defined as diarrhea positive. Diarrhea onset and duration were computed as an average from the animals presenting this clinical condition on each experimental group. RVA was determined in all fecal samples from diarrhea-affected calves by ELISA and viral shedding onset and duration were computed as average from animals on each experimental group. Means in the same column with different superscript upper case letters differ significantly by Mann Whitney test: a-b p-value = 0.0035; c-d p-value = 0.0320; e-f p-value = 0.0020

ISSN: 1746-6148