Articles

Infectious diseases lower the productivity of the ruminant production systems not only via morbidity but also by changing nutrient partitioning and efficiency of metabolism. Activation of the immune system decreases glucose, amino acids and micronutrients used in growth and lactation in favor of immune defense leading to lower feed efficiency and performance. Though vaccination plays a crucial role in controlling the disease, traditional vaccine delivery platforms can cause temporary inflammation in the entire body, resulting in decreased feed consumption and metabolic energy balance. A latest method of inducing immunity at low metabolic cost involves DNA vaccines, which are also known as plasmid-mediated expression and endogenous antigen expression. This review combines the present mechanistic understanding of DNA vaccination with the ruminant physiology and animal nutrition with emphasis on their impacts on feed consumption, rumen fermentation, nutrient utilization and immuno-metabolic efficiency. The review has placed DNA vaccination as part of the new immuno-nutritional interventions to revolutionize sustainable production of ruminants and proposed the main research gaps that need to be addressed in the future.