BOOSTcolostrum

Coordinator: Università di Pisa, Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria

Scientific Officer: Diana Luise

Duration: 30/11/2023 - 30/10/2025

Research group: Diana Luise, Paolo Trevisi, Federico Correa, Maurizio Mazzoni.

Colostrum may represent a nutraceutical intervention for livestock species but to date little is still known regarding its use in these species. The overall aim of the project will be to drive the investigation at a multi-omics approach, leading to a proficient use of colostrum as nutraceutical for diseases prevention. The project will be organised as a prospective cohort study involving two research units (RUs) (University of Pisa and University of Bologna) and composed by 4 Work Packages (WPs). The WP1 will be about the overall organisation, analysis reports and disseminations of the results. The WP2 will aim to characterise the bovine, equine and swine colostrum using a multi-omics approach comparing results with health and performance parameters. Colostrum from cows and mares (n=24 each) and blood samples from their newborn will be collected at birth (T0), at 6 (T6), 12 (T12), 24 (T24) and 72 (T72) hours of life. Both samples will be assessed for immunoglobulins G (IgG) concentrations, and they will be characterised with metabolomic untargeted and lipidomic. Health and performance parameters will be recorded, and the results will be related. Five commercially artificial colostrum for piglets will be analysed using the same multi-omics approach. The obtained result will be used to compare the composition of the artificial colostrum with swine colostrum (n=20). Piglets will be classified as low birth body weight (BW) and normal birth BW. Health, diarrhoea, use of antibiotics and mortality will be recorded, also, at day 6 and at day 28, a faecal sample from 6 piglets/sow will be collected and microbial data will be used to cluster piglets for their gut health. Parameters will be related. The WP3 will aim to evaluate with a multi-omics approach the use of different colostrum supplements on the health, and growth of calves and foals; and to test a commercial and a new colostral formulation on the health, robustness, maturation and growth of low and normal birth body weight piglets. Since the 4 days of life, calves and foals will be feed with maternal milk plus and extra meal made by warm water (placebo), 70 g and 150 g of IgG by colostrum replacer. Health parameters will be evaluated, including signs of diseases until the 60th day of life. Blood and colostrum samples collected at 7 (T7d), 21 (T21d) and 60 (T60d) days of life will be evaluated as in WP2. The WP4 will aim to have a suitable, proper utilisation and integrated use of all omics data generated in the WP2 and WP3 to achieve the specific objectives of each task. Expected results will be to evaluate the interaction between health, immunological and multi-omics parameters during the first weeks of life in calves, foals and piglets and to verify the nutraceutical effect of colostrum on calves, foals and piglets’ health and performance. Overall, the nutraceutical use of colostrum is expected to improve health and reduce antibiotic treatments in young animals.

Results achieved

The project successfully achieved its main objective of increasing knowledge on the biological, biochemical, and nutraceutical properties of swine, bovine and equine colostrum through an integrated application of multi-omics approaches combined with in vivo trials.

Metabolomic and lipidomic profiling of bovine and equine colostrum, as well as calf and foal plasma was successfully completed (WP2). In both species, time after birth emerged as the main driver of colostrum and plasma metabolic profiles. The most pronounced metabolic changes occurred between T0 and T12. In particular, at T12, 139 blood metabolites differed in calves and 64 differed in foals compared to T0, and the number of differential metabolites increased progressively over time.

In swine, metabolomics and lipidomics analyses of colostrum, together with the analysis of piglet gut microbiota composition, were carried out. Multi-omics analyses on sow colostrum showed that its composition was influenced by parity and affected piglets performance. In fact, parity emerged as the main driver of piglet survivability and gut microbiota composition. Moreover, among the metabolites identified in sow colostrum, taurine and vitamin E were found to be absent in artificial colostrum and were positively associated with piglets performance and survival.

The objectives of WP3 were successfully achieved. The supplementation of colostrum replacer in calves and foals produced measurable effects on their plasma metabolic profile at all sampling points. The strongest treatment-related metabolic response was observed at T60d, with 23 discriminant metabolites identified. However, no major differences were observed between the two supplementation doses (70 g vs. 150 g IgG).

A commercially available colostrum formulation and a new formulation were tested on low (LBW) and normal birth body weight (NBW) piglets to observe their effect on piglet health, robustness, maturation and growth (WP3). A total of 50 sows with their litters were included in the trial and divided in five group of 10 litters each. Piglets received either a bovine-based artificial colostrum (COL) or the same formulation enriched with taurine and vitamin E (PLUS). One group received only maternal colostrum (CO), one received additional COL supplementation during the first 3 days of life (COL3) and another group received PLUS colostrum in the same period (PLUS3). The remaining two groups received COL (COL28) or PLUS colostrum (PLUS28) both for the first 3 days of life and again during the 3 days before weaning. Blood and jejunal mucosa were collected at weaning from piglets. Although artificial colostrum supplementation did not improve growth compared to the control group, it improved piglet welfare by reducing lesion number and severity, and induced a shift in their blood metabolic profile. Additional administration of COL before weaning enhanced piglet growth compared with COL3 and also improved intestinal integrity, highlighting the importance of supplementation timing. Enrichment with taurine and vitamin E did not improve piglets growth performance during the study period but induced measurable systemic metabolic changes. Transcriptomic analyses of jejunal mucosa from CO, COL3, and COL28 groups, further stratified by birth BW (LBW and NBW), showed that the major differences in gene expression occurred between COL3-LBW and COL28-LBW groups.

The integration of all omics data generated in WP2 and WP3 was achieved in WP4. The comparative bioinformatic analysis of bovine, equine, and swine colostrum composition identified a total of 2,071 metabolites. Many interspecies differences were

observed, with a large proportion of metabolites being species-specific. Specifically, 1,030 metabolites were uniquely detected in sow colostrum, 293 in cow colostrum, and 399 in mare colostrum. Pairwise overlaps were limited and only four metabolites were common to all three species. Finally, the analysis showed that swine colostrum is more similar to bovine than equine colostrum since swine and bovine colostrum shared 341 metabolites, while swine and equine colostrum shared only nine.

Scientific dissemination (WP1) was ensured through the creation of a website, serving as a central platform for disseminating project objectives, activities, and results to both the scientific community and stakeholders. The research paper “Multi-omics profiling of sow colostrum and faecal microbiota reveals parity-dependent and independent factors associated with piglet survival and growth” by Luise et al. was published in the Journal of Animal Science and Biotechnology. Moreover, the following abstracts reporting project results were presented as oral communications at national and international conferences: "Multi omics characterization of swine colostrum and association of bioactive compounds with piglet survival and growth" (Correa et al.) at the 16th International Symposium on Digestive Physiology of Pigs (May 2025); "Colostrum Supplementation as a Nutraceutical: Effects on Health and Growth in Preweaning Calves" (Sala et al.) at the 78° Convegno SISVET (June 2025); and "Multi-omics characterisation of pig colostrum and association of its bioactive compounds and gut microbiota with the survival of piglets" (Luise et al.) at the 26° Congresso ASPA (June 2025). The abstract "Effect of early and late postnatal administration of two artificial colostrum formulas on piglets' growth performance, blood metabolic profile and intestinal health" (Bencivenni et al.) will be presented at the 77th EAAP Annual Meeting (September 2026).
Finally, project results were also disseminated to the livestock sector through an article published on the specialized swine production platform 3tre3.

Funding

Funded by the European Union - NextGenerationEU under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) - Mission 4 Education and research - Component 2 From research to business - Investment 1.1 Notice PRIN 2022 PNRR (DD N. 1409 del 14/09/2022), from title "Multi-omics characterisation of colostrum to develop a nutraceutical approach for improve health and resilience in large animals", proposal code P2022ZTYLS - CUP J53D23018670001.