Production of Specific Immunoglobulin Y in Egg Yolk Against Some Calf Diarrhea Pathogens

Calf diarrhea is a commonly reported disease and a major problem to the livestock industry. Although, antibiotics are used to treat diarrhea in calves, they are not effective against viruses as well as they may cause some other problems such as antibiotic resistance. As a result, natural antibodies such as immunoglobulin Y (IgY) from egg yolk could be a possible replacement for traditional antibiotics with less side effects. The objective of this research was production of specific IgY againt major calf diarrhea pathogens such as coronavirus, rotavirus, E. coli, and Clostridium perfringens in the egg yolk. For this purpose, this experiment was performed with two treatments (control and vaccinated group with the trivalent vaccine of coronavirus, rotavirus, and E. coli as well as Clostridium perfringens vaccine) and seven replicates in each group on W-36 Hy-Line laying hens. SDS-PAGE and Bradford methods were used for quality and quantity evaluations of IgY, respectively. Finally, the effect of freeze-drying and spray drying on IgY degradation was assessed by SDS-PAGE. The results showed that heavy and light chains of IgY were visible in the treatment group. The control group did not show any visible IgY fragments. Furthermore, the quantity of IgY secreted in egg yolk was estimated at 4.729 mg/ml. Finally, the comparison between two drying methods showed that freeze-drying did not damage IgY although spray-drying caused a substantial damage. Furthur experiments are required to validate the biological activity of the specific IgY produced in this study.