{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/88625"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/88625","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The effect of dietary vitamin E on the humoral and cell-mediated immune response of pigs housed at different environmental temperatures or weaned at various ages","abstract":"A set of experiments were conducted to evaluate the antibody response, serum vitamin E level, cortisol concentration and performance of pigs weaned at three ages (21, 28 or 35 d) and fed diet containing either 11 or 220 IU/kg diet recommended level of vitamin E. Supplemental dietary vitamin E (220 IU) increased the concentration of serum vitamin E but, did not affect performance, cortisol concentrations or the antibody response. As weaning age increased, weekly performance increased linearly as did cortisol levels. Animals weaned at 35 d age had the largest primary antibody response, but this difference was not observed for the secondary response. A second set of experiments evaluated effects of four dietary vitamin E levels (11, 110, 220 and 550 IU/kg feed) on the humoral and cell-mediated immune response and performance of 4 wk old weanling pigs housed at one of two nursery temperatures (19 or 30°C). Performance was greater for pigs housed at 19°C compared with pigs housed at 30°C, but mitogen stimulation indices of white blood cells, plasma cortisol levels, and antibody titers were similar. Serum and liver vitamin E levels linearly increased with increasing dietary vitamin E level, but performance, cortisol, antibody levels and mitogen induced stimulation indexes were not affected by supplemental vitamin E levels. In the third experiment, sows fed a NRC level of vitamin E demonstrated little fluctuation in serum vitamin E concentration during a 5 wk lactation period. There was a high concentration of vitamin E in colostrum, followed by a sharp decrease in milk vitamin E concentration after the first week of lactation and remained constant for the next four weeks. Piglet serum was initially low in vitamin Eat 1 d of age but increased with time peaking about week 3. These experiments suggest that supplementing dietary vitamin E above the levels recommended by the NRC to baby pigs (which nursed sows fed NRC recommended levels of vitamin E) will not influence cell-mediated or humeral immune response, performance parameters or cortisol levels when pigs were weaned at various ages or exposed to environmental temperature changes.","abstract_html":"A set of experiments were conducted to evaluate the antibody response, serum vitamin E level, cortisol concentration and performance of pigs weaned at three ages (21, 28 or 35 d) and fed diet containing either 11 or 220 IU/kg diet recommended level of vitamin E. Supplemental dietary vitamin E (220 IU) increased the concentration of serum vitamin E but, did not affect performance, cortisol concentrations or the antibody response. As weaning age increased, weekly performance increased linearly as did cortisol levels. Animals weaned at 35 d age had the largest primary antibody response, but this difference was not observed for the secondary response. A second set of experiments evaluated effects of four dietary vitamin E levels (11, 110, 220 and 550 IU/kg feed) on the humoral and cell-mediated immune response and performance of 4 wk old weanling pigs housed at one of two nursery temperatures (19 or 30°C). Performance was greater for pigs housed at 19°C compared with pigs housed at 30°C, but mitogen stimulation indices of white blood cells, plasma cortisol levels, and antibody titers were similar. Serum and liver vitamin E levels linearly increased with increasing dietary vitamin E level, but performance, cortisol, antibody levels and mitogen induced stimulation indexes were not affected by supplemental vitamin E levels. In the third experiment, sows fed a NRC level of vitamin E demonstrated little fluctuation in serum vitamin E concentration during a 5 wk lactation period. There was a high concentration of vitamin E in colostrum, followed by a sharp decrease in milk vitamin E concentration after the first week of lactation and remained constant for the next four weeks. Piglet serum was initially low in vitamin Eat 1 d of age but increased with time peaking about week 3. These experiments suggest that supplementing dietary vitamin E above the levels recommended by the NRC to baby pigs (which nursed sows fed NRC recommended levels of vitamin E) will not influence cell-mediated or humeral immune response, performance parameters or cortisol levels when pigs were weaned at various ages or exposed to environmental temperature changes.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bonnette, Edward Dwain"],"institution":"Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University","degree_name":"Doctor of Philosophy","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Animal Science","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Kornegay, E.T.","Lindemann, Merlin D."],"committee_members":["Blodgett, Dennis","Wood, Cindy M.","Notter, David R."],"year":1988,"date_issued":"1988","date_published":"1988","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:06Z","subjects":[],"languages":["en_US"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/10919/88625","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Kornegay, E.T.","Lindemann, Merlin D."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Blodgett, Dennis","Wood, Cindy M.","Notter, David R."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Animal Science"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bonnette, Edward Dwain"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2019-03-26T19:52:59Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2019-03-26T19:52:59Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["1988"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"dc:type.dcmitype","label":"Dc Type Dcmitype","values":["Text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en_US"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/88625"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A set of experiments were conducted to evaluate the antibody response, serum vitamin E level, cortisol concentration and performance of pigs weaned at three ages (21, 28 or 35 d) and fed diet containing either 11 or 220 IU/kg diet recommended level of vitamin E. Supplemental dietary vitamin E (220 IU) increased the concentration of serum vitamin E but, did not affect performance, cortisol concentrations or the antibody response. As weaning age increased, weekly performance increased linearly as did cortisol levels. Animals weaned at 35 d age had the largest primary antibody response, but this difference was not observed for the secondary response. A second set of experiments evaluated effects of four dietary vitamin E levels (11, 110, 220 and 550 IU/kg feed) on the humoral and cell-mediated immune response and performance of 4 wk old weanling pigs housed at one of two nursery temperatures (19 or 30°C). Performance was greater for pigs housed at 19°C compared with pigs housed at 30°C, but mitogen stimulation indices of white blood cells, plasma cortisol levels, and antibody titers were similar. Serum and liver vitamin E levels linearly increased with increasing dietary vitamin E level, but performance, cortisol, antibody levels and mitogen induced stimulation indexes were not affected by supplemental vitamin E levels. In the third experiment, sows fed a NRC level of vitamin E demonstrated little fluctuation in serum vitamin E concentration during a 5 wk lactation period. There was a high concentration of vitamin E in colostrum, followed by a sharp decrease in milk vitamin E concentration after the first week of lactation and remained constant for the next four weeks. Piglet serum was initially low in vitamin Eat 1 d of age but increased with time peaking about week 3. These experiments suggest that supplementing dietary vitamin E above the levels recommended by the NRC to baby pigs (which nursed sows fed NRC recommended levels of vitamin E) will not influence cell-mediated or humeral immune response, performance parameters or cortisol levels when pigs were weaned at various ages or exposed to environmental temperature changes."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Doctor of Philosophy"]},{"key":"dc:format.mimetype","label":"Dc Format Mimetype","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The effect of dietary vitamin E on the humoral and cell-mediated immune response of pigs housed at different environmental temperatures or weaned at various ages"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Kornegay, E.T.","Lindemann, Merlin D."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Blodgett, Dennis","Wood, Cindy M.","Notter, David R."],"dc:contributor.department":["Animal Science"],"dc:creator":["Bonnette, Edward Dwain"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2019-03-26T19:52:59Z"],"dc:date.available":["2019-03-26T19:52:59Z"],"dc:date.issued":["1988"],"dc:description.abstract":["A set of experiments were conducted to evaluate the antibody response, serum vitamin E level, cortisol concentration and performance of pigs weaned at three ages (21, 28 or 35 d) and fed diet containing either 11 or 220 IU/kg diet recommended level of vitamin E. Supplemental dietary vitamin E (220 IU) increased the concentration of serum vitamin E but, did not affect performance, cortisol concentrations or the antibody response. As weaning age increased, weekly performance increased linearly as did cortisol levels. Animals weaned at 35 d age had the largest primary antibody response, but this difference was not observed for the secondary response. A second set of experiments evaluated effects of four dietary vitamin E levels (11, 110, 220 and 550 IU/kg feed) on the humoral and cell-mediated immune response and performance of 4 wk old weanling pigs housed at one of two nursery temperatures (19 or 30°C). Performance was greater for pigs housed at 19°C compared with pigs housed at 30°C, but mitogen stimulation indices of white blood cells, plasma cortisol levels, and antibody titers were similar. Serum and liver vitamin E levels linearly increased with increasing dietary vitamin E level, but performance, cortisol, antibody levels and mitogen induced stimulation indexes were not affected by supplemental vitamin E levels. In the third experiment, sows fed a NRC level of vitamin E demonstrated little fluctuation in serum vitamin E concentration during a 5 wk lactation period. There was a high concentration of vitamin E in colostrum, followed by a sharp decrease in milk vitamin E concentration after the first week of lactation and remained constant for the next four weeks. Piglet serum was initially low in vitamin Eat 1 d of age but increased with time peaking about week 3. These experiments suggest that supplementing dietary vitamin E above the levels recommended by the NRC to baby pigs (which nursed sows fed NRC recommended levels of vitamin E) will not influence cell-mediated or humeral immune response, performance parameters or cortisol levels when pigs were weaned at various ages or exposed to environmental temperature changes."],"dc:description.degree":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"dc:format.mimetype":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/10919/88625"],"dc:language.iso":["en_US"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:title":["The effect of dietary vitamin E on the humoral and cell-mediated immune response of pigs housed at different environmental temperatures or weaned at various ages"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"dc:type.dcmitype":["Text"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Philosophy"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:19:06Z"}