Evaluation of the Immune Response to Transport Stress in the Aosta Valley Breed

SIMPLE SUMMARY: From an animal welfare point of view, transportation is regarded as an acute stressor often disrupting the internal homeostasis of animals. Transportation provides a variety of physical and mental stressors related to pre-transportation rearing conditions, handling, loading, voyage conditions, unloading, and post-transportation housing conditions, implying adaptation to a new environment. The extent and the duration of stressors play an important role in shaping and modulating homeostatic control responses. The present study, carried out on 45 young bulls, aimed to determine whether short-term transportation could alter selected hematochemical and immunological parameters. The results obtained showed low-grade and transient alterations of the analysed parameters, which did not seem to compromise the bulls’ well-being. ABSTRACT: Transportation is a recurring event in a farm animal’s life, and it is considered one of the main stressors with possible negative repercussions for both the health and welfare of farm animals. The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of transportation on some blood variables of 45 young bulls moved from their original farms to a livestock collection centre. Transportation took no more than 8 h and was carried out between January and March 2021. Blood samples were taken before transportation (T0), upon arrival at the collection centre (T1), and 7 days after arrival (T2). Samples were processed for blood cell count, clinical chemistry analyses, serum protein electrophoresis, and the evaluation of innate immunity parameters. The results showed a typical stress leukogram with neutrophilia and changes in the neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio. No significant alterations were observed in either serum proteins or pro-inflammatory cytokines. Significant, albeit transient, alterations were observed in some clinical chemistry parameters after transportation, which could be accounted for by stressful conditions such as the transportation itself and handling and mixing with other animals. Our results indicated that the adopted transportation conditions only slightly affected the blood variables under study with no significant impact on animal welfare.