Advances in dairy Research
Open Access

Bovine leukemia virus in Chinese dairy and beef cattle

International Dairy Meet

June 29-30, 2016 New Orleans, USA

Y Yang, J Bai, Z Yang, W Fan, Y Mao, R Zhang, C Szeto and C Wang

Yangzhou University College of Veterinary Medicine, China Kansas State University, USA
Yangzhou University College of Animal Science and Technology, China
China Animal Health and Epidemiology Center, China
The University of British C

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Adv Dairy Res

Abstract :

In this study, we investigated the prevalence of bovine leukemia virus (BLV) infection in dairy and beef cattle at individual-level in 19 provinces of China, and the influence of BLV infections on complete blood counts, biochemical parameters and milk composition in cows. A fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) quantitative PCR was established in this study to detect BLV proviral DNA and compared with a commercial CELISA against gp51. Our data showed that 49.1% of dairy cattle (964/1,963) from 6 provinces and 1.6% of beef cattle (22/1,390) from 15 provinces were BLV positive. In a detailed study of 105 cows (26 BLV-uninfected cows and 79 BLV-infected cows) in a dairy farm in Jiangsu province, 18 complete blood count parameters, 13 biochemical parameters and 5 parameters of milk composition were tested. Comparing BLV-infected and BLV-uninfected cows, all the biochemical parameters we studied in 105 cows did not differ significantly, while 9 of the 18 complete blood count parameters were significantly different. The BLV-infected cows had significantly higher levels in 6 parameters (white blood cell count, lymphocyte number, lymphocyte percentage, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood cell distribution width) and significantly lower levels in 3 parameters (monocyte percent, granulocyte percent, and platelet count). The lactose level in milk in BLV-infected cows was significantly lower than that in BLV-uninfected cows. Taken together, our results indicate that BLV infections are widespread in the dairy farms of China, and BLVinfection may affect blood count and lactose metabolism of cows.

Biography :

Y Yang is a PhD student from College of Veterinary Medicine, Yangzhou University, and currently is a visiting scholar in College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University. He has published 5 papers studying on cattle in reputed journals, such as Journal of Dairy Science.

Email: yangyi910506@vet.k-state.edu