Abstract
BackgroundDespite an increasing preference of consumers for beef produced from more extensive pasture-based production systems and potential human health benefits from the consumption of such beef, data regarding the health status of animals raised on pasture are limited. The objective of this study was to characterise specific aspects of the bovine peripheral and the gastrointestinal muscosal immune systems of cattle raised on an outdoor pasture system in comparison to animals raised on a conventional intensive indoor concentrate-based system.ResultsA number of in vitro functional tests of immune cells suggested subtle differences between the animals on the outdoor versus indoor production systems. There was a decrease in the number of neutrophils and monocytes engaged in phagocytosis in outdoor cattle (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively) in comparison to those indoors. Following mitogen stimulation, a lower level of interferon-γ was produced in leukocytes from the outdoor animals (P < 0.05). There was evidence of a gastrointestinal nematode infection in the outdoor animals with elevated levels of serum pepsinogen (P < 0.001), a higher number of eosinophils (P < 0.05) and a higher level of interleukin-4 and stem cell factor mRNA expression (P < 0.05) in the outdoor animals in comparison to the indoor animals. Lower levels of copper and iodine were measured in the outdoor animals in comparison to indoor animals (P < 0.001).ConclusionDespite distinctly contrasting production systems, only subtle differences were identified in the peripheral immune parameters measured between cattle raised at pasture in comparison to animals raised on a conventional intensive indoor concentrate-based production system.
Highlights
Despite an increasing preference of consumers for beef produced from more extensive pasture-based production systems and potential human health benefits from the consumption of such beef, data regarding the health status of animals raised on pasture are limited
White blood cell differential counts The total number of white blood cells did not differ between outdoor and indoor animals (Table 2)
There were no significant differences in lymphocyte and neutrophil numbers between the two groups, and all haematological values were found to be within the normal physiological ranges [20]
Summary
Despite an increasing preference of consumers for beef produced from more extensive pasture-based production systems and potential human health benefits from the consumption of such beef, data regarding the health status of animals raised on pasture are limited. Emerging data suggest that there are human health advantages associated with the consumption of grass-fed beef compared with beef produced from intensive concentrate-based systems [1]. Only one research group has examined the effect of outdoor versus indoor housing on immune status and this study was performed on pigs [4] These authors identified a lower white blood cell and lymphocyte count, accompanied by a lower natural killer cell activity and a higher neutrophil percentage in outdoor compared to indoor pigs. The authors explained these results by a possible more diluted and lower microbial exposure in the outdoor environment
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