Effects of early immune stress and changes in dietary metabolizable energy on the development of newly hatched turkeys. 2. Selected characteristics of immune function

2, 21-day experiments were conducted to document the effects of early immunologic stress and changes in dietary MEn on selected characteristics of immune function of newly-hatched turkeys. Each experiment consisted of 8 treatments in a complete factorial arrangements of 2 injections and 4 isonitrogenous diets. Turkeys in both experiments were injected intraperitoneally with saline (SAL) 0.5, 0.5, and 0.2 ml or 0.5, 0.5, and 0.2 ml of a solution of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (100 µg/ml SAL) at 1, 3 and 5 days old, respectively. In experiment 1, 2 diets contained MEn 2800 kcal/kg, one was based on maize/soyabean meal (CSBM), the other contained 8% Solkafloc (SKF). Diet 3 (MEn 3100 kcal/kg) was formulated by substituting 8% sucrose (SUC) for 8% SKF, and diet 4 (HE) contained MEn 3700 kcal/kg. CSBM and SUC and 2 additional diets were fed in experiment 2. These were CBSM plus ibuprofen 74.5 mg/kg (IBU) and a maize/soyabean meal diet with MEn 3100 kcal/kg (CS31). Plasma immunoglobulin and jejunal IgG and IgA were not affected by injection or diet, but were related to age. Injecting LPS reduced the number or responses of blood leukocytes to mitogens at 8 days old (P<0.01), compared with samples from turkeys injected with SAL. Leukocytes in whole blood of turkeys given HE responded less to LPS stimulation than those given SUC (P<0.01). Injecting LPS did not affect immune functions, and feeding a diet with MEn 3100 kcal/kg and 28.5% CP did not affect the characteristics of immune function of young turkeys.