Effect of oral administration of prepared egg yolk antibodies against enterotoxigenic E. coli K99 on growth and health Performance of Holstein suckling Calves

To investigate the effect of oral administration of prepared specific egg yolk antibody (IgY) against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K99 on growth performance, health, the prevalence of diarrhea of neonatal calves, an experiment was conducted using 60 newborn calves in a completely randomized design with two treatments. Calves were kept individually. Calves in the control group received only milk or colostrum for 30 days and calves in the treatment group received milk or colostrum with IgY against inactivated K99. During the experiment, health parameters and the prevalence of diarrhea were recorded daily, and growth performance was evaluated weekly. The results showed that average daily gain, starter dry matter intake and feed and milk efficiency were higher in the IgY group than the control group (P<0.05). The general health score in the IgY group was higher than control group and fecal and ear scores in this group were significantly lower than the control group (P<0.05). The count of fecal coliforms in the IgY group was decreased by approximately one log compared to the control group (P<0.05). The results of the present study showed that oral administration of IgY against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli K99 has beneficial effects on health and average daily gain of suckling Holstein calves and It can be a good way to replace antibiotics.