PSIV-13 - Effects of oral administration of vitamin E and selenium on stress indicators and oxidative biomarkers in road- transported pregnant Holstein heifer

We investigated the effects of oral administration of vitamin E and selenium (ESe) on oxidative stress biomarkers in road-transported pregnant heifers. Thirty-six pregnant Holstein heifers (body weight 515 ± 48.3 kg and age 524 ± 42.4 days) were assigned to four treatments: no transportation with no administration of ESe (NTR-NESe, n = 10); no transportation with oral administration of ESe (70 IU DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate/kg of DM and 0.3 mg sodium selenite/kg of DM; NTR-ESe, n = 10); transportation with no administration (TR-NESe, n = 8); transportation with oral administration of ESe (TR-ESe, n = 8). Two trucks (8 heifers/truck) were used for the 200 km transportation. Blood was collected h 1 before, immediately after transportation (h 0), h 6, h 24 and h 48 after transportation. The TR × time and ESe × time effects were observed (P < 0.01) for plasma cortisol concentration, indicating that TR heifers had higher plasma cortisol concentrations than NTR heifers and that ESe-administrated heifers had lower plasma cortisol concentrations than NESe heifers at h 0 after transportation. The TR and ESe effects were observed (P < 0.01) for plasma haptoglobin (Hp) concentration. The TR increased Hp concentration at h 6 and h 24 after transportation, and ESe decreased Hp concentration in the transported heifers. The ESe (P = 0.02) and ESe × time interaction (P < 0.01) effects were observed for plasma total oxidative status (TOS) concentrations. The TR increased plasma TOS concentrations at h 0, and the ESe decreased plasma TOS concentrations in transported heifers. In contrast, the TR decreased (P < 0.05) plasma TAS concentrations at h 6 and h 24 after transportation, and the ESe increased (P < 0.05) plasma TAS concentrations in the transported heifers. These results suggest that transportation induces oxidative stress and the ESe may alleviate oxidative stress in the transported heifers.