Abstract
Bovine colostrum, which contains a large quantity of immunoglobulins, is indispensable for newborn animals. The establishment of a new procedure for preserving colostrum without losing the immunological activity is significant. We examined the effect of high hydrostatic pressure treatment (100~500 MPa) on the preservability and the immunochemical activity of bovine colostrum. When high hydrostatic pressure treatment was 300 MPa or more, the increase of the total viable count, coliforms and psychrotrophic gram-negative bacteria was suppressed effectively. In particular, the number of coliforms in colostrum treated at 300 MPa or more hardly increased for 35 days at $4{^{\circ}C}$. At 400 MPa or more, both gelling of the colostrum and denaturation of immunoglobulins were observed. However, if the pressure was 300 MPa, immunoglobulins were scarcely influenced and the neutralizing titers against the bovine coronavirus did not decrease. Therefore, it was suggested that 300 MPa was the best pressure for good preservability of colostrum without reducing the immunochemical response.