CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 21Animal health and immunologyAnimal Behavior and Welfare StudiesEffects of Environmental Stressors on Livestock

Effects of pre-transport diet, transport duration and transport condition on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin in young veal calves

Open access
Marcato, Francesca, van den Brand, Henry, Jansen, Christine A., Rutten, Victor P. M. G., Kemp, Bas, Engel, Bas, Wolthuis-Fillerup, Maaike, van Reenen, Kees·2021·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0246959PMC PMC7886138
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of pre-transport diets, transport durations and transport conditions on immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol and bilirubin of young calves upon arrival at the veal farm. An experiment was conducted with a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with 3 factors: 1) provision of rearing milk or electrolytes at the collection center (CC); 2) transport duration (6 or 18 hours) and 3) transport condition (open truck or conditioned truck). Holstein-Friesian and cross-bred calves were used (N = 368; 18 ± 4 days; 45.3 ± 3.3 kg). Blood samples were collected from calves (N = 128) at the collection center, immediately post-transport (T0) and 4, 24, 48 hours, week 1, 3 and 5 post-transport. Blood was analyzed for cortisol, bilirubin, haptoglobin, IgG and IgM. Moreover, cell counts of neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, basophils and eosinophils were measured in blood samples taken at the collection center and T0. In these same blood samples, different lymphocyte populations were characterized by flow cytometry, including CD14+ cells, NK cells, δγ+ T cells, CD8+ cells, CD4+ cells and CD21+ cells. Calves transported in the conditioned truck had higher amounts of white blood cell count (WBC) (Δ = 1.39 × 10 9 /l; P = 0.01), monocytes (Δ = 0.21 × 10 9 /l; P = 0.04), neutrophils (Δ = 0.93 × 10 9 /l; P = 0.003), than calves transported in the open truck regardless, of pre-transport diet or transport duration. The study showed that transport condition and duration influenced parts of the innate immune system of young veal calves. Cortisol, bilirubin and WBC seemed to be connected by similar underlying mechanisms in relation to transport conditions. However, it is unclear which specific pathways in the immune system of young calves are affected by different transport conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity, draught).

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pone.0246959

Cites

57 of 57 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Elevated cortisol levels, indicative of physical strain, have been found in calves transported for greater durations (18 h vs. 6 h), while navel inflammation was observed more frequently in calves transported for 6 h vs. 18 h.

    “Aside from changes in the energy balance and dehydration status of calves during transport, elevated cortisol levels, indicative of physical strain, have been found in calves transported for greater durations (18 h vs. 6 h), while navel inflammation was observed more frequently in calves transported for 6 h vs. 18 h [10, 11].”

    From Observational study: effect of varying transport durations and feed withdrawal on the physiological status and health of dairy calves (2025) · cites this paper as [10]

    The Results (Main effects of pre-transport diet, transport condition, and transport duration; page not available) report higher cortisol in calves transported for 18 hours than for 6 hours. The passages from this paper do not report that navel inflammation was more frequent after 6 hours; searches for navel and umbilical inflammation found no supporting passage. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Calves provided with 1.5 L of milk replacer instead of electrolytes before a 6 h journey maintained higher plasma glucose concentrations and had lower cortisol concentrations upon arrival, indicating that a more nutritious pre-transport diet can mitigate the negative effects of transport on energy balance and the physiological stress response to some extent.

    “Research has shown that calves provided with 1.5 L of milk replacer (MR) instead of electrolytes before a 6 h journey maintained higher plasma glucose concentrations and had lower cortisol concentrations upon arrival, indicating that a more nutritious pre-transport diet can mitigate the negative effects of transport on energy balance and the physiological stress response to some extent [12, 13].”

    From Effects of age and feeding protocols on the metabolic and physiological condition of unweaned calves during and after long-distance transport (2026) · cites this paper as [13]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 2 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 0 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The culmination of these cofactors can lead to an increased likelihood of altered physiological status and health.

    “The culmination of these cofactors, albeit with unequal contributions, can lead to an increased likelihood of altered physiological status and health [10–12].”

    From Observational study: effect of varying transport durations and feed withdrawal on the physiological status and health of dairy calves (2025) · cites this paper as [10]

  • Previous studies have reported that using a conditioned versus an open truck influenced immune cell subsets, but calves transported in summer and winter showed little difference in clinical variables after a 19-h journey.

    “Previous studies have also reported that using a conditioned versus an open truck influenced immune cell subsets (43), but calves transported in summer and winter showed little difference in clinical variables after a 19-h journey (16).”

    From Effect of source and journey on physiological variables in calves transported by road and ferry between Ireland and the Netherlands (2023) · cites this paper as [43]

  • Milk-fed calves exhibited lower cortisol levels post-transport and increased numbers of monocytes compared with calves fed electrolytes.

    “Milk-fed calves also exhibited lower cortisol levels post-transport and increased numbers of monocytes (involved in the innate immune defense against pathogens) compared with calves fed electrolytes (Marcato et al., 2021).”

    From Effects of pre- and post-transport feeding protocols on the metabolism and physiological status of veal calves. (2025) · cites this paper as Marcato et al., 2021

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Marcato, F., van den Brand, H., Jansen, C. A., Rutten, V. P. M. G., Kemp, B., Engel, B., Wolthuis-Fillerup, M., & van Reenen, K.
Affiliations
  • Wageningen University & Research (NL)
  • Utrecht University (NL)
Corresponding author
Marcato, Francesca
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2021-02-16
Volume
16
Issue
2
Pages
e0246959
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0246959
PMC
PMC7886138
OpenAlex
W3130327309
Cited by
21
References
57
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4
FWCI
4.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • UpSpace Institutional Repository (University of Pretoria) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
  • Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality
  • Stichting Brancheorganisatie Kalversector
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal health and immunology
  • Health Sciences › Veterinary › Small Animals › Animal Behavior and Welfare Studies
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Animal Science and Zoology › Effects of Environmental Stressors on Livestock
Keywords
veal calves, transport time, transport conditions, immune cell subsets, haptoglobin, cortisol, bilirubin, innate immunity, lymphocyte subsets, neutrophils, monocytes, electrolytes, stress response, Holstein cows, crossbred cattle
MeSH terms
Red Meat, Animals, Animal Husbandry, Bilirubin, Cattle, Diet, Haptoglobins, Hydrocortisone

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review