Comparative serum chemistry profile of different age group buffaloes of Guntur district

Introduction

Andhra Pradesh is the second largest state in buffalo population next to Uttar Pradesh. Buffaloes are mainly reared for milk production. Most of the animals belong to non-descript breed whose average milk yield is 1.8 kg/day as per 2003 census whereas some of them are graded Murrah with average milk yield of 4.26 kg/day (Garcia et al., 2006) [12] . Health status has significant impact on the milk yield. Serum chemistry profile plays an important role in monitoring the health status such as body's internal condition, function of different organs and metabolic changes in the body (Lee et al., 1978 and Scamell, 2006) [16,21] . The estimation of basic biochemical constituents helps in the further diagnosis of various pathophysiological and metabolic diseases. The blood biochemical parameters are classified into three groups based on variability in the values and diagnostic value as low variability with high diagnostic value, moderate variability with diagnostic value and high variability with low diagnostic value by Suan (2006) [22] . Serum biochemical constituents of low variability with high diagnostic value like total protein, albumin, globulin, calcium and phosphorus can be used to screen animals for subclinical infections that are responsible for lowering the productivity of animals. Hence a small trial was conducted to monitor the health status of three age group buffaloes namely 0-3 years, 4-6 years and 7-9 years of Varagani village in Guntur district using serum chemistry parameters of low variability and high diagnostic value. phosphorus were estimated using diagnostic kits from Erba Mannheim and 'Multiscan Go' spectrophotometer. The tests were repeated twice and checked for repeatability.

Results

The results were presented in Table 1. There was no statistically significant difference in the values of different parameters among different age groups except creatinine, which was significantly higher in 4-6 years age group when compared to other age groups. The total protein, globulin, BUN and calcium values were lower than the reported lower reference limit with values of 5.31±0.19, 5.53±0.48, 5.39±0.14 and 6.7 g/dl for total protein; 2.11±0.2, 2.14±0.16, 2.22±0.14 and 3.0 g/dl for globulins; 14.02±2.1, 12.37±1.5, 8.55±1.32 and 20 mg/dl for BUN and 7.50±0.25, 8.58±0.81, 7.01±0.25 and 9.7 mg/dl for calcium in all the age groups and LRL respectively. The albumin, creatinine, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin and phosphorus values were within the normal range. There was statistically significant difference in creatinine values among the different age groups whereas for all other parameters, there was no statistically significant difference in values among various age groups.

Discussion

From the results, it is evident that there is hypoproteinemia due to hypoglobulinemia. Chorfe et al. reported that variation in serum globulin level in buffaloes in mainly due to γ globulin fraction and both of them have positive correlation with r 2 value of 0.87 for γ globulins and 0.91 for IgG (Ingvartsen and Moyes, 2013) [15] . Based on this report, it can be presumed that the buffaloes in the present study had poor humoral immune response. Nutritional status has a key role in immune function of dairy cows. The major energetic fuels used by immune cells are glucose, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), beta hydroxyl butyric acid (BHBA) and glutamine (Gln) (Ingvartsen and Moyes, 2013) [15] . Poor nutritional status leads to decreased γ globulin production by immune cells. Deficiency of vitamin B 12 was found to affect production of immunoglobulins and complement components in mice (Funanda et al., 2001) [11] . Malnutrition also leads to increase in the levels of glucocorticosteroids, which are known to cause immunodeficiency (Cunningham, 1982) [9] . Mineral metabolism is altered in malnutrition syndrome leading to deficiency of iron and zinc, which have an important role to play in immune function. Iron and zinc deficiencies have been reported to cause immunodeficiency (Gross et al, 1975; de Sousa et al, 1978; Brummerstedt, 1971) [13,10,3] . Congenital immune deficiency or nephrotic syndrome can also cause hypoglobulinemia (Busher, 1980) [4] . The results of the present study delineate the fact that the animals are undernourished and that might have resulted in low protein and globulin levels. This assumption can be strengthened by the BUN levels, which are lower than the normal range of 20-30 mg/dl in all the three age groups with values, 14.02±2.1, 12.37±1.5 and 8.55±1.32 respectively (Table 1). Lower BUN values are good indicators of less protein turnover in the body. Blood or milk urea nitrogen forms a useful tool for monitoring protein-energy status of cattle. Preston et al., (1978) [19] reported that BUN value of <7 mg/dl in finishing steers and < 15 mg/dl in rapidly growing cattle indicates dietary protein deficiency. The BUN values in the present study are less than 15 mg/dl indicating protein deficiencies in the animals. Creatinine levels showed significant variation between different age groups with higher level of 1.39±0.09 in 4-6 years age group (Table 1). This period is considered to be the most productive period in buffaloes. The results are in agreement with those of Patel et al., 2016 [18] who observed higher creatinine levels in bulls when compared to male calves whereas Saraiva et al., 2014 [20] reported contradictory results stating that creatinine levels decreased with advancing age from 1.85±0.41 mg/dl at 12 months to 1.71±0.42 mg/dl at 24 months. Creatinine is a marker of muscular and kidney function. The animals are apparently healthy and no evidence of kidney disorders was observed based on animal behavior and other markers of kidney function like albumin and BUN. So the variation in creatinine levels in the present study could most probably be due to physiological variation in muscular function at different ages. The higher creatinine levels during 4-6 years age in the present study can be corroborated to higher muscular activity during this productively active period. This is in agreement with the findings of Baxmann et al., 2008 [2] , who identified a significantly higher mean serum creatinine levels in humans with moderate/intense physical activity compared to the those with mild activity or the sedentary individuals. Bilirubin levels (total and direct) are within the normal range indicating no influence of age on bilirubin metabolism in the body (Fig. 4). Among the two minerals calcium and phosphorus studied, calcium values are 7.50±0.25, 8.58±0.81 and 6.96±0.39 respectively in all the three age groups and are less than the normal range of 9.7-12.4 mg/dl. Phosphorus values were within the normal range in the first two age groups where as in the third age group i.e., 6-9 years, it is 4.55±0.48 mg/dl, which is less than the normal range of 5.6-6.5 mg/dl (Fig. 5). It indicates hypophosphatemia although the difference is not significant when compared to the other age groups. Based on these results, subclinical hypocalcemia is evident in all the buffaloes of Varagani village as the traditional cutoff value of total calcium for subclinical hypocalcemia is reported as  8 mg/dl (Gutarra SM et al., 2025) [14] . Incidence of subclinical hypocalcemia was reported to be 22.64% in cross-bred cattle of Andhra Pradesh by Ambica and Rao (2012) [1] . The Ca 2+ levels in water buffaloes of Ludhiana are 8.92±0.26 mg/dl during summer and 9.74±0.30 mg/dl in winter. Hypocalcemic HF cows were found to have significantly more lipid infiltration in hepatocytes on day 7 and day 35 post-partum. Milk protein percentage was decreased by day 21 and day 35 post-partum (Chamberlin et al., 2013) [6] . These reports emphasize the fact that subclinical hypocalcemia in the buffaloes of Varagani village may lead to future complications such as adverse effect on liver function and milk production performance of the animals. Hence there is an urgent need to include protein and mineral supplements in the ration of Varagani village buffaloes to prevent further damage to the health and production performance.

Acknowledgement

AcknowledgementsWe thank Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University, Tirupati for supporting us in executing this work. We also thank Mr. Rambabu, Regional sales manager, Mineral mixture supplier of Guntur District who has contributed in sample collection from Varagani village.

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