Oral and Poster Abstracts

thymus in calves and heifers with chronic pneumonia for monitoring
thymus objectively in diseased individuals.
Materials and methods: The cross-section of cervical thymus in 46
clinically healthy calves and heifers (normal group) and 8 calves
with chronic pneumonia (chronic group) was observed by
ultrasonograph with 3.5 MHz and 5.0 MHz transducer. The weight
of the thymus of the chronic group was measured and compared with
the cross section of the cervical thymus. They were 1-100 weeks of
age in normal group and 5-60 weeks of age in chronic group.
Results: The cross section of cervical thymuses of normal group
were increased from born to 31 weeks and made plateau to 45 weeks
and space decreased to 100 weeks. The mean cross sections of
cervical thymus at 1-5 weeks and 31-35 weeks were 5±1.4cm 2 and
22.9±0.4cm 2 , respectively, and were 4-fold increased compared to
that of birth, and then it decreased to 3.7±0.5 cm 2 at 96-100 weeks
after birth. The mean cross section of the cervical thymus in chronic
group at 1-5, 31-35 and 41-46 weeks were 3.1(±1.9) cm 2 , 6.1 cm2,
and 3.7 cm 2 , respectively and these values were significantly
lowered, compared to those of normal group. The echogenic of the
cross section of cervical thymus in normal group at±2 weeks of age,
37 weeks of age and 87 weeks of age were hypo echoic, moderate
hyper echoic and hyper echoic. A positive correlation (r=0.74) was
found between the cross section of thymus and their weights in
chronic group. The body weight was decreased and prognosis was
bad in the chronic group.
Conclusion: The observation of thymus by ultrasonograph is an
effective tool for estimating the size of thymus in Holstein calves and
heifers from birth to 100 weeks of age. The cases of chronic pneumonia
of small size thymus are bad prognosis. The results of this study prove
to be useful and applicable to monitor the growth of thymus in Holstein
calves and heifers.
1030 Probiotics in Prevention of Diarrhea in Calves
J. Prasek 1 , J. Illek 2 , D. Kumprechtova 2
1 Veterinary and Pharmaceutical University Brno, Microbiology and
Immunology, Brno, Czech Republic
2 Veterinary and Pharmaceutical University Brno, Clinic of Ruminant
Diseases, Brno, Czech Republic
Objective: The aim was to investigate the effects of dietary
supplementation with LACTIFERM L5 (Enterococcus faecium M74
(NCIMB 11181) on prevention of diarrhea, health, performance, and
blood chemistry parameters in dairy calves under field conditions.
Material and methods: 24 Holstein calves (8 males and 16
females). Experimental treatments: 1. Control (C), n = 12, 2.
LACTIFERM (L), n = 12. First 5 days of life the calves received
colostrum (2 L 2x/day). The L calves received 5g probiotic/calf/day,
7.2 x 10 9 CFU/1g. Calf starter and water were provided ad libitum.
Starter consumption was measured daily. The trial lasted 50 days,
scours occurence was recorded. The calves were weiged on days 1,
21, 42 and 50, average daily weight gain (ADWG) was calculated.
Blood samples were collected on days 1 and 50 and 3 times in
between (5 collections), and analysed for total protein (TP), albumin,
immunoglobulins (Ig), urea and Ca, Mg, Cu, Zn.
Results: ADWG for the whole experimental period was 0.61 kg/day
and 0.58 kg/day in L and C, respectively. The difference was not
significant. Calf starter consumption per kg weight gain was
significantly (P