Impact of Rumen-Protected Niacin on Milk Production Performance and Blood Biochemical Indexes of Dairy Cows Under Mild Heat Stress

Author(s):  
Yong Chen ◽  
Guang Wang ◽  
Xingbo Yu ◽  
Li Zhen ◽  
Yongli Qu

To study the influence of rumen-protected niacin on mild heat-stressed dairy cow, 30 healthy high-yielding dairy cows with similar parity were selected and randomly divided into three groups and were fed the rations with 0g/d, 6g/d and 12g/d rumen-protected niacin respectively. The results showed that the dairy cows were in mild heat stress during the experiment and the time of test day significantly affected the milk yield, FCM and respiration rate of cows. Rumen-protected niacin supplement neither altered the dairy cow’s body temperature, skin temperature and respiration rate, nor affected their milk yield and milk quality; however, it reduced the level of triglyceride and urea in serum.

Author(s):  
Е.О. КРУПИН

В различные синоптические сроки выявлено количество измерений по индексу температуры и влажности (ТВИ) в животноводческом помещении, при которых у коров наблюдается тепловой стресс. Спрогнозированы данные о температуре тела и частоте дыхания коров в условиях теплового стресса и его отсутствия, в том числе и по четырем срокам измерений. Определен потенциально возможный уровень молочной продуктивности коров при отсутствии теплового стресса. По методу E.C. Thom установлено, в среднем, 80,0% значений ТВИ, характеризующих условия среды как «тепловой стресс». Наблюдалось увеличение доли данных значений с 10 ч утра до 19 ч. По A. Berman et al. Выявлено, в среднем, 10,9% значений ТВИ, а по M.K. Yousef — 5,0%, относящихся к тепловому стрессу. В 15-й синоптический срок измерений по Гринвичу в животноводческом помещении спрогнозирована наибольшая вероятность теплового стресса. Среднее увеличение температуры тела коров с 6-го по 15-й синоптические сроки измерений при тепловом стрессе составит 1,0% (0,4°C, P<0,001), а частоты дыхания — 51,3% (18 дыхательных движений в 1 мин, (P<0,001). Максимальная динамика увеличения температуры тела наблюдается в 13 ч и 16 ч, а частоты дыхания — в 13 ч. Потенциальная молочная продуктивность дойных коров в летние месяцы может быть в среднем на 8,9% выше. In various synoptic terms in the cowshed room, the amount of measurements of the temperature of the heat and humidity index was revealed when the cows suffer from thermal stress. Data on body temperature and respiration rate of cows in conditions of heat stress and its absence were predicted, including those for four measurement periods. Potentially possible level of milk production of cows in the absence of heat stress was determined. According to E.C. Thom is found on average 80.0% of the values of THI, characterizing environmental conditions as "heat stress". An increase in the share of these values is observed in the period from 10:00 to 19:00. According to A. Berman et al. revealed on average 10.9% of THI values, and according to M.K. Yousef — 5.0% of the THI values related to heat stress. In 15, the synoptic term of measurements in Greenwich in the cowshed, the highest probability of heat stress is predicted. The average increase in body temperature of cows from 6 to 15 synoptic term of measurements in Greenwich heat stress will be 1.0% (0.4°C, P<0.001), and the respiration rate will be 51.3% (18 respiratory movements per minute, P<0.001). The maximum dynamics of an increase in body temperature is observed at 13:00 and 16:00 for body temperature, and respiratory rate at 13:00. The potential milk production of dairy cows in the summer months can be 8.9% higher on average.


2002 ◽  
Vol 2002 ◽  
pp. 220-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.D. Cooper ◽  
D. R. Arney ◽  
C. J. C. Phillips

The effects of high milk yields on the behaviour and welfare of the dairy cow are unclear. A high milk yield increases the need to consume sufficient fodder in an attempt to meet high nutrient demands. The failure to meet the demands may result in persistent hunger in the dairy cow having to modify her behaviour by employing various coping strategies. These modifications may help the cow overcome a state of hunger but at the expense of being unable to express other important behaviours. The objective of this study was therefore to determine whether the behaviour and welfare of the genetically high yielding dairy cow is being compromised by the increased nutritional demands of milk production, and to investigate the possibility that an increased amount of time spent in food-directed behaviours may have a detrimental effect on the time available to perform other important behaviours.


1999 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 99-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Webb ◽  
P. C. Garnsworthy ◽  
J. G. Gong ◽  
R. S. Robinson ◽  
D. C. Wathes

AbstractAn effective method for enhancing milk production efficiency in dairy cows is to increase milk yield and significant progress has been achieved through intense selection, assisted by the application of new reproductive techniques. However this increased milk yield has been accompanied by a slow but steady decline in dairy cow fertility. The two main reasons for this reducing level of fertility appear to be selection for increased milk yield and large herd sizes, although the affect of the introduction of Holstein genes needs to be investigated. In addition, other negative consequences such as an increase in the incidence of metabolic diseases and lameness have been observed. This has given rise to public concern that the high-yielding dairy cow may be under a state of metabolic stress during peak lactation and therefore the welfare and performance of other body functions are compromised.The reason for this decline in fertility is not well understood, although a nutritional influence on the initiation of oestrous cycles, follicular growth, oocyte quality and early embryonic development has been implicated. In early lactation dietary intake is unable to meet the demands of milk production and most cows enter a period of negative energy balance. Negative energy balance has a broadly similar effect to undernutrition leading to a mobilization of body reserves. Furthermore diets high in rumen degradable protein lead to an excess of rumen ammonia, which before it is converted to urea by the liver and excreted in the urine, may cause an alteration in the reproductive tract environment reducing embryo survival. Such major changes in the metabolic and endocrine systems can therefore influence fertility at a number of key points.Possible reproductive sites where inadequate nutrition may have detrimental effects include: (i) the hypothalamic/pituitary gland where gonadotropin release may be impaired; (ii) a direct effect on the ovaries, where both follicular growth patterns and corpus luteum function may be directly influenced; (iii) the quality of the oocyte prior to ovulation may be reduced and coupled with an inadequate uterine environment will result in reduced embryo survival and (iv) there may be effects on subsequent embryo development. The initiation of normal oestrous cycles post partum is usually delayed in dairy cows with a higher genetic merit for milk production, confirming that intense selection towards high milk yield can compromise reproductive function. In addition, the effects of increased milk yield may include changes in circulating GH and insulin concentrations, which in turn alter both insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and IGF binding protein production. Nutrition has recently been shown to have a direct effect at the level of both the ovaries and the uterus to alter the expression of these growth factors.In conclusion, further knowledge is required to determine how the metabolic changes associated with high milk output reduce fertility. Identification and understanding of the mechanisms involved and the key sites of action responsible for compromised reproductive function, will enable the identification of possible indices for future multiple-trait selection programmes.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1812
Author(s):  
Meng-Fei Yu ◽  
Xin-Mao Zhao ◽  
Hang Cai ◽  
Jian-Ming Yi ◽  
Guo-Hua Hua

Heat stress (HS), a nonspecific response to environmental heat, can seriously affect dairy cow health. Feed additives may alleviate HS in dairy cows by improving rumen fermentation efficacy, stimulating feed consumption, enhancing vasodilation, and/or improving antioxidant capacity. The temperature–humidity index (THI) indicates that spring is a non-HS season, and summer is an HS season. HS results in the decrease in dairy cow antioxidant capacities. Our results indicated the decrease in superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT), and total antioxidation (T-AOC) levels and the increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) level during HS season. Meanwhile, antioxidant indexes (SOD, GSH-Px, and T-AOC) were positively correlated with milk yield (p < 0.01), whereas MDA exhibited a significant negative correlation with milk yield (p < 0.05). In addition, the effects of dihydropyridine (DHP) on antioxidant capacity and ruminal microbial communities in dairy cows under HS were investigated. During summer, dairy cows were randomly assigned into two groups under HS, including a standard diet (S-ND) group and standard diet with 3 g/day/cow DHP (S-D) group. DHP treatment significantly restored SOD and GSH-Px levels under HS. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis results indicated that the DHP altered ruminal bacterial community mainly composed Proteobacteria and Firmicutes in dairy cows under HS. Our results suggest that DHP can enhance the antioxidant abilities of dairy cows with favorable effects on ruminal microbial communities under HS, further alleviating HS on dairy cows.


2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 479 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. C. F. Monteiro ◽  
M. A. Ferreira ◽  
A. S. C. Véras ◽  
S. I. Guido ◽  
M. P. Almeida ◽  
...  

Spineless cactus is an important part of dairy cow diet in the semiarid Brazilia. Severe infestation of cochineal (Dactylopius opuntiae Cockerell) destroyed a vast area of the most common species of cactus planted in the region; Opuntia ficus-indica Mill. resistant varieties with superior agronomic performance were recently selected, but they still need to be tested with dairy cows. We evaluated the use of a resistant variety, ‘Orelha de Elefante Mexicana’ (OEM, Opuntia spp.), in dairy cow diet. We tested its effect on intake, nutrient digestibility, microbial protein, blood parameters and performance of lactating cows. Ten cows with an average milk yield of 20 kg/day were assigned to an experiment using a double 5 × 5 Latin square design. The experimental diets consisted of five replacement levels of Nopalea cochenillifera Salm Dyck cv. (‘Miúda’) by ‘OEM’ (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%) on a dry-matter (DM) basis) and were formulated considering the ingredient composition. The roughage:concentrate ratio was 70:30 on a DM basis. The replacement of ‘Miúda’ by OEM did not change the intake (kg/day) of DM (18.0), organic matter (16.3), crude protein (CP, 2.8), total digestible nutrients (11.6), non-fibre carbohydrates (7.6) and neutral detergent fibre (5.7), or the apparent digestibility (g/kg) of DM (655), organic matter (694), CP (739) and non-fibre carbohydrates (950), whereas apparent digestibility of neutral detergent fibre increased linearly. Microbial protein production (1.5 g/day), microbial protein efficiency (129.2 g CP/kg total digestible nutrients), plasma urea nitrogen (21.4 mg/dL), nitrogen balance (123 g/day), feed efficiency (1.1), nitrogen efficiency (0.2), milk production (20.0 kg/day), fat-corrected milk production (20.1 kg/day) and milk composition were not influenced by the replacement. Therefore, we recommend the use of OEM in the diet of lactating cows with an average milk yield of 20 kg/day.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jialin Wei ◽  
Mengying Dou ◽  
Shuai Liu ◽  
Bichuan Yan ◽  
Cuiyu Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Because of disadvantages of excessive dietary crude protein (CP), decreasing dietary CP of dairy cows has attracted the worldwide attention. Rumen protected methionine (RPM) supplementation can allow lower CP diets and is beneficial to milk production performance, N efficiency of cows and environment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of reducing dietary CP and supplementing RPM on production, digestibility of nutrients, blood parameters, ruminal metabolites and economic effectiveness in lactating Holstein dairy cows. Results: A total of 96 lactating cows (63 ± 25 d in milk; 34.4 ± 5.74 kg/d of milk production; mean ± SD) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: diet containing 17.3% CP without RPM (control group; CON; n = 49); diet containing 16.4% CP with supplementing 15.0 g/d of RPM (treatment group; RPM; n = 47). No effect was observed of reducing dietary CP on milk yield and milk composition. The apparent digestibility of nutrients was similar between treatments. The results related to blood showed that cows in RPM group exhibited lower concentration of blood urea nitrogen than that in CON group (P < 0.001). Moreover, there were no differences between treatments on concentrations of aspartate transaminase, alanine transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, globulin and albumin. In ruminal metabolites, microbial crude protein (MCP) of dairy cows in RPM group was higher compared with CON group (P = 0.006). Ruminal volatile fatty acid (VFA) contents were not changed by treatments except that the concentrations of butyrate and isovalerate of RPM group were higher than that of CON group at 2 h after feeding (P < 0.05). In addition, supplying the diet of 16.4% CP with RPM supplementation to cows could reduce feeding cost by 0.5 $/d per cow and boost net profits. Conclusions: Lower dietary CP with RPM supplementation did not limit milk yield, milk composition and apparent digestibility of nutrients, and could improve nitrogen utilization of dairy cows and synthesis of MCP in rumen, change VFA production at 2 h after feeding, as well as boost the economic benefits of the dairy farms.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 3114
Author(s):  
Roman Gálik ◽  
Gabriel Lüttmerding ◽  
Štefan Boďo ◽  
Ivana Knížková ◽  
Petr Kunc

The values of the temperature-humidity index and its influence on the performance parameters of dairy cows were monitored on four farms located in the southern part of the central Slovakia during a period of three years. The observed parameters included: the milk yield per cow per day, average milk speed and maximum milk speed. The thermal-humidity index was calculated based on a formula. The individual periods were divided according to the achieved THI. The results of dairy cows with a milk yield of 29 kg to 31 kg show that there is not a decrease in the milk yield per milking if the THI value is lower than 68. It was also found that there was a decrease in the milk yield per dairy cow in the robotic milking parlor for a THI value greater than 72. The influence of a THI value higher than 68 in these dairy cows results in a higher average milk speed, as well as a higher maximum milk speed. These two parameters are not yet in the main area of research interest. This study enriches the area with new knowledge, according to which dairy cows can show thermal stress by increasing the milk speed as well as the maximum milk speed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1475-1485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian K. Atkins ◽  
Nigel B. Cook ◽  
Mario R. Mondaca ◽  
Christopher Y. Choi

Abstract. This study uses a continuously sampling sensor to document the respiration rate dynamics of lactating dairy cows under conditions of heat stress. Previously available respiration rate data on lactating dairy cows had primarily been generated by manually counting flank movements at discrete points in time, typically several times per day. Continuous measurements provide much higher-resolution data over time. The primary objective of this study was to analyze these continuous respiration rate measurements in relation to ambient conditions, body temperature, lying time, and time of day. Better understanding continuous responses to heat stress may help synchronize cooling system operation to the cows’ need for heat stress relief. For 19 days during a summer season in Wisconsin, eight lactating Holstein cows were equipped with sensors designed to detect the abdominal expansion associated with breathing. An algorithm was developed to derive respiration rate from each sensor’s signal. To validate the accuracy of the sensor and algorithms, measurements from the sensor were compared to respiration rate measurements taken via visual observation. Overall, variation in continuously measured respiration rate corresponded to changes in temperature-humidity index (THI) and body temperature. However, respiration rate and body temperature also remained elevated at night despite decreasing THI. Keywords: Dairy cow, Heat stress, Physiological monitoring, Respiration rate, Telemetry, Wearable.


2012 ◽  
Vol 48 (No. 10) ◽  
pp. 473-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Kopeček

Relations between the level of milk yield and the economic results of dairy cows breeding were analysed on the base of operational and economic data received from 135 agricultural enterprises. The analysis was aiming at the optimization of milk production expressed by means of the cost function. By evaluating the above-mentioned relations, there was recorded a tendency of the faster growth of milk yield compared to the costs for market milk for one feeding day of a dairy cow. On the base of the expense function, there was expressed the maximum profit for a litre of market milk, the maximum profit for a dairy cow per year and the interval of profitability of milk production in 2000.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 469-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Severino Pinto ◽  
Gundula Hoffmann ◽  
Christian Ammon ◽  
Barbara Amon ◽  
Wolfgang Heuwieser ◽  
...  

AbstractThe main objective of this study was to identify the influences of different climatic conditions and cow-related factors on the respiration rate (RR) of lactating dairy cows. Measurements were performed on 84 lactating Holstein Friesian dairy cows (first to eighth lactation) in Brandenburg, Germany. The RR was measured hourly or twice a day with up to three randomly chosen measurement days per week between 0700 h and 1500 h (GMT + 0100 h) by counting right thoraco-abdominal movements of the cows. Simultaneously with RR measurements, cow body postures (standing vs. lying) were documented. Cows’ milk yield and days in milk were recorded daily. The ambient temperature and relative humidity of the barn were recorded every 5 min to calculate the current temperature-humidity index (THI). The data were analyzed for interactions between THI and cow-related factors (body postures and daily milk yield) on RR using a repeated measurement linear mixed model. There was a significant effect of the interaction between current THI category and body postures on RR. The RRs of cows in lying posture in the THI < 68, 68 ≤ THI < 72 and 72 ≤ THI < 80 categories (37, 46 and 53 breaths per minute (bpm), respectively) were greater than those of standing cows in the same THI categories (30, 38 and 45 bpm, respectively). For each additional kilogram of milk produced daily, an increase of 0.23±0.19 bpm in RR was observed. Including cow-related factors may help to prevent uncertainties of RR in heat stress predictions. In practical application, these factors should be included when predicting RR to evaluate heat stress on dairy farms.


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