scholarly journals Effects of Rumen-Protected Niacin on Dry Matter Intake, Milk Production, Apparent Total Tract Digestibility, and Faecal Bacterial Community in Multiparous Holstein Dairy Cow during the Postpartum Period

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 617
Author(s):  
Naren Gaowa ◽  
Xiaoming Zhang ◽  
Huanxu Li ◽  
Yajing Wang ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
...  

Extensive studies about rumen-protected niacin (RPN) supplementation on dairy cows in early-lactation have been done, but the effects of RPN on changes in dry matter intake (DMI), milk production, feed digestibility, and fecal bacterial community were conflicting. The aim of this study was to investigate them affected by RPN in postpartum cows. Multiparous Holstein dairy cows (n = 12, parity = 3.5 ± 0.5, body weights = 740 ± 28 kg) were divided into two groups supplemented with either 0 (CON) or 20 g/d RPN (RPN). Our results showed that RPN supplementation increased DMI and milk production of cows during the first three weeks after calving (p < 0.05). The concentrations of neuropeptide Y and orexin A were significantly higher in RPN group than that in the CON group during postpartum period (p < 0.05). The apparent total-tract digestibility of nutrients was similar between the CON and RPN groups at 2 weeks after calving (p > 0.05). The 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis showed that RPN had no impact on the alpha and beta diversity, although 4 genera were changed in cow feces at 14 days after calving. Overall, 20 g/d RPN added to the diet could improve DMI and milk yield up to two weeks after calving with little influence on feed digestibility.

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. e347985005
Author(s):  
Alexandre Bernardi ◽  
Antonio Waldimir Leopoldino da Silva ◽  
Catia Capeletto ◽  
Felipe Junior Portela da Silva ◽  
Renata Cristina Defiltro ◽  
...  

This study compared the effects of unchopped and chopped hay on milk production and composition, feed digestibility, and physiology of Lacaune sheep. Eighteen ewes were stratified by parity (two or three), days of lactation (60 ± 3.7 days), and milk production (1.04 L/ewe/day), and were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: 1) Unchopped or 2) Chopped Tifton 85 hay. Corn silage and concentrate were also provided. Chopped hay ewes gave lower (P≤0.01) dry matter intake and greater (P=0.02) crude protein digestibility. No effects of treatment were detected (P≥0.38) for the digestibility of dry matter, or of neutral and acid detergent fibers. Chopped hay ewes had greater (P≤0.01) milk production (d 7 and d 12), lactation persistence, and feed efficiency. Ewes eating chopped hay had greater (P=0.03) protein concentration in their milk. However, there were no effects of treatment × day and treatments (P≥0.16) for concentrations of fat, lactose, minerals, deffated dry extract, or density. Ewes eating chopped hay presented lower (P<0.01) serum concentrations of urea and tended to have lower (P=0.10) serum concentrations of glucose only on d 12. However, there were no effects of treatment × day and treatments (P≥0.16) for serum concentrations of total protein, albumin, globulin, triglycerides, or cholesterol. These data suggest that chopped hay promotes lower dry matter intake and serum concentrations of glucose and urea, but improves milk production, lactation persistence, feed efficiency, and protein concentration.


1999 ◽  
Vol 133 (4) ◽  
pp. 419-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. UNAL ◽  
P. C. GARNSWORTHY

Dry matter intake is one of the major factors limiting milk production in dairy cows, although the quantity of food consumed by an individual cow when housed and fed as part of a group is rarely known. Such information would permit more precise ration formulation, concentrate allocation and selection of cows according to efficiency of milk production. Alkanes have been used with sheep and cattle to estimate feed intake under grazing conditions and could provide a technique for measuring intake in housed dairy cows. The purpose of this study was to examine alkanes C32 and C36, in combination with alkane C33, as indigestible markers for estimating intake of housed dairy cows fed on different diets under experimental and commercial conditions. Three experiments were conducted with hay-based diets (Expt 1), silage only diets (Expt 2) and a diet consisting of a silage-based basal ration plus concentrates (Expt 3). Animals were dosed once daily with C32 and C36, either on filter papers (Expts 1 and 2) or as part of a specially prepared concentrate (Expt 3). Faecal recoveries of alkanes ranged from 0·88 to 0·99. Over the range of intakes found in the three experiments (6–24 kg DM/d), the r2 values for estimated versus actual dry matter intakes ranged from 0·81 to 0·99. It is concluded that alkanes could provide a useful technique for estimating intake in dairy cows housed and fed in groups.


1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 923 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. J. Moate ◽  
D. E. Dalley ◽  
J. R. Roche ◽  
C. Grainger

Summary. The effect of herbage allowance (20, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 kg DM/cow. day) on the consumption of nutrients from herbage and milk production by cows in early lactation, was examined. The experiment was conducted on rainfed perennial ryegrass pastures in September and October 1997 in south-eastern Victoria, Australia. The herbage on offer comprised 64% perennial ryegrass, 21% other grasses, 1% white clover, 5% weeds and 9% dead material on a dry matter (DM) basis. The average pregrazing herbage height was 13 cm, at an estimated pregrazing herbage mass of 3.6 t DM/ha. The herbage on offer was of high quality containing 11.6 MJ metabolisable energy/kg DM, 202 g crude protein/kg DM and 525 g neutral detergent fibre/kg DM. Concentrations of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphorus, sulfur and chloride were 4.4, 2.2, 4.4, 31.2, 3.5, 2.7 and 11.4 g/kg DM, respectively. As daily herbage allowance per cow increased, dry matter intake increased curvilinearly (P<0.01) from 11.2 to 18.7 kg DM/cow. day. This was associated with a decrease in utilisation of herbage from 54 to 26% and an increase in milk production from 25.9 to 29.1 kg/cow. day. The cows on all treatments grazed for less than 8.7 h/day. The increase in intake was achieved by an increase in the rate of herbage intake from 1.5 to 2.2 kg DM/h for herbage allowances of 20 and 70 kg/cow.day, respectively. Irrespective of herbage allowance, cows selected a diet that was approximately 10% higher in in vitro dry matter digestibility and 30% higher in crude protein than that in the herbage on offer. The neutral detergent fibre content of the herbage selected was lower (P<0.05) than that on offer. The herbage consumed contained more (P<0.05) magnesium, potassium and sulfur, the same amount of calcium and phosphorus and less (P<0.05) sodium and chloride than the herbage on offer. For rainfed perennial pastures in spring, herbage allowance is an important factor in determining voluntary feed intake and production of dairy cows. To achieve 30 L from herbage, without supplementation, high herbage allowances are required. The increase in herbage intake, with increasing herbage allowance, resulted from an increase in rate of dry matter intake and not an increase in grazing time. No relationship was evident between herbage allowance and the selection differentials for in vitro dry matter digestibility, crude protein and neutral detergent fibre. Selection differentials for rainfed perennial pastures in spring are similar to those reported for irrigated perennial pastures in northern Victoria in spring and autumn. When determining nutrient requirements it is important to consider the interaction between herbage intake and nutrient concentration in the herbage.


Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 925
Author(s):  
Zhao ◽  
Min ◽  
Zheng ◽  
Wang

Heat stress negatively impacts the health and milk production of dairy cows, and ruminal microbial populations play an important role in dairy cattle’s milk production. Currently there are no available studies that investigate heat stress-associated changes in the rumen microbiome of lactating dairy cattle. Improved understanding of the link between heat stress and the ruminal microbiome may be beneficial in developing strategies for relieving the influence of heat stress on ruminants by manipulating ruminal microbial composition. In this study, we investigated the ruminal bacterial composition and metabolites in heat stressed and non-heat stressed dairy cows. Eighteen lactating dairy cows were divided into two treatment groups, one with heat stress and one without heat stress. Dry matter intake was measured and rumen fluid from all cows in both groups was collected. The bacterial 16S rRNA genes in the ruminal fluid were sequenced, and the rumen pH and the lactate and acetate of the bacterial metabolites were quantified. Heat stress was associated with significantly decreased dry matter intake and milk production. Rumen pH and rumen acetate concentrations were significantly decreased in the heat stressed group, while ruminal lactate concentration increased. The influence of heat stress on the microbial bacterial community structure was minor. However, heat stress was associated with an increase in lactate producing bacteria (e.g., Streptococcus and unclassified Enterobacteriaceae), and with an increase in Ruminobacter, Treponema, and unclassified Bacteroidaceae, all of which utilize soluble carbohydrates as an energy source. The relative abundance of acetate-producing bacterium Acetobacter decreased during heat stress. We concluded that heat stress is associated with changes in ruminal bacterial composition and metabolites, with more lactate and less acetate-producing species in the population, which potentially negatively affects milk production.


Author(s):  
K W Agnew ◽  
C S Mayne

In a previous study at this Institute, significant increases in total dry matter intake were obtained with first lactation animals offered grass silage and concentrates as a complete diet rather than in separate feeds. However, the increased DM intake associated with complete diet feeding was not reflected in improved animal performance. Similar results have also been reported by Phipps, Bines, Fulford and Weller (1984) and Cassel, Merrill, Milligan and Guest (1984).The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect on animal performance of offering two types of concentrate in addition to grass silage, with concentrates offered either as a complete diet or in three feeds per day.


Animals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1727
Author(s):  
Viktoria Neubauer ◽  
Renee M. Petri ◽  
Elke Humer ◽  
Iris Kröger ◽  
Nicole Reisinger ◽  
...  

Starch-rich diets can cause subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) in dairy cows with potentially different susceptibility according to lactation number. We wanted to evaluate the bacterial community and the fermentation end products in feces to study susceptibility to hindgut acidosis and dysbiosis. Sixteen dairy cows received a medium-concentrate diet (MC, 40% concentrate, 18.8% starch) for one week and a high-concentrate diet (HC, 60% concentrate, 27.7% starch, DM) for four weeks. Milk yield, dry-matter intake, chewing activity, ruminal pH, milk constituents, and fecal samples for short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), pH, and 16S rRNA-gene sequencing were investigated. The HC feeding caused a reduction in fecal pH, bacterial diversity and richness, an increase in total SCFA, and a separate phylogenetic clustering of MC and HC samples. Ruminal and fecal pH had fair correlation (r = 0.5). Cows in the second lactation (2ndL) had lower dry matter intake (DMI) than cows of third or fourth or more lactations (3rdL; ≥4 L), whereas DMI/kg body weight was lower for ≥4 L than for 2ndL and 3rdL cows. The mean ruminal pH was highest in ≥4 L, whereas the time spent below the SARA threshold was highest for 3rdL cows. The latter also had higher total SCFA in the feces. Our results suggest that hindgut dysbiosis is caused by increased substrate flow to the hindgut, but further investigations are needed to define hindgut acidosis. The 3rdL cows were most susceptible to rumen acidosis and hindgut dysbiosis due to high DMI level, but missing counter regulations, as suggested happening in 2ndL and ≥4 L cows.


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