The future- Dairy cows use tobacco products to stay healthy?

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The future- Dairy cows use tobacco products to stay healthy?

By Michael Fisher

CSU Area Livestock Extension Agent

Colorado

Each year, many of the nation's livestock producers are faced with the unpleasant management problem of mastitis in their lactating females. This is a disease that does not discriminate against species, attacking sheep, goats, horses, swine, and cattle. Dairy cattle producers have traditionally been affected, more by the disease, than other segments of the livestock industry. The USDA estimates that the combination of tainted milk that must be disposed of and cows that are incapacitated due to the disease costs U.S. dairy producers $2 billion annually.

In its simplest form, mastitis is an inflammation of the udder. However, there are multiple forms of mastitis and these can have various causes. The most prevalent form is coliform mastitis. It is generally caused by the bacterium Escherichia coli. The industry has used antibiotics to fight this disease for years but there is growing concern about the expense of treatments, as well as the potential of creating antibiotic-resistant strains of the bacteria.

The September issue of Agricultural Research is reporting that there may be a new bio-friendly form of mastitis treatment on the horizon. Researchers from the USDA-ARS Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory and the USDA-ARS Molecular Plant Pathology Laboratory (both in Beltsville, Maryland) are collaborating to develop the new treatment. I will try to summarize their findings for you but, bear with me; their process borders on confusing.

A cow's mammary glands naturally have a low level of CD14. This is a beneficial protein that has various therapeutic effects for the host animal. One of these is that it will bind with lipopolysaccharides on the surface of E. coli bacteria and trigger the cow's immune system to fight infections, such as those that cause mastitis. Scientists in the BFGL theorized that if they could increase the level of CD14 in the udder, they could prevent many cases of mastitis from developing. At the same time, scientists in the MPPL were discovering that by introducing a specially modified potato virus to tobacco plants, they could turn the host plant into a "bio-factory" for producing CD14.

Next, the leaves of the host plant were mashed-up, the created CD14 was tagged with the amino acid histidine, and the tagged CD14 extracted from the plant tissue. The CD14 extract was then infused into randomly selected quarters of test cows' udders, with all quarters receiving a subsequent infusion of E. coli. Those treated quarters had significantly fewer bacteria collected from them than the quarters that did not receive the plant-derived CD14.

The researchers were able to treat 10 cows per tobacco plant. However, they suggest that it may be possible to lower the dosage in a commercial setting. They have applied for patent protection of their discovery and the resulting plant-derived CD14. Additionally, they are seeking a commercial partner to help them take their research to the next level.

So while we as a society gradually shun away from tobacco products, perhaps your livestock herd/flock will be picking up on their tobacco usage in years to come. Until then, I encourage you to visit with your veterinarian about how you can maintain vigilance over this disease in your herd and/or flock.